Birds are, perhaps, the most eloquent expression of reality.

I can recognize the calls of practically every bird in North America. There are some in Africa I don't know, though

Butterflies may be better indicators of the health of our environment than birds.

Not all is doom and gloom. We are beginning to understand the natural world and are gaining a reverence for life - all life.

Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble.

The truth of the matter is, the birds could very well live without us, but many -- perhaps all -- of us would find life incomplete, indeed almost intolerable without the birds.

Penguins are an indicator of the health of our watery planet, and if they are unable to survive, we had better take notice or we might find our own survival threatened.