The Sound of the Country

Blake writes:

The island of Hawaii is a largely rural place, and as such you can expect to find yourself neighbors with the likes of cows, chickens and multiple dogs. The sounds from these various creatures is not easily escaped in a climate that encourages the windows to be always open. The cows that occasionally graze in the pasture out behind us are not a problem; in fact, their infrequent low mooing is a rather soothing sound. The chickens are another matter. Actually, the hens are fine too with their mild cluck-cluck-clucking. But the roosters are loud and proud and have absolutely no sense of either courtesy or time. Any stereotypical wisdom granted to these birds in accurately announcing the dawn are quickly dispelled when the first raucous call comes at 2:30am. Not even close to sunrise. Their bellow seems to say nothing more than, “HEY, I'M A ROOSTER! AREN'T I INCREDIBLY LOUD? OH, ARE YOU GUYS TRYING TO SLEEP?!!!

Once one gets started the neighboring roosters are compelled to answer, an annoying group mentality they share with dogs, of which there are also many in these parts. I'm not sure we'd ever get fully used to the nightly cacophony, but we're adapting somewhat. Our rental is perched on a hill with little in the way of protective vegetation so we get hit full blast from the crowing and barking. Fortunately, our new house – though not far from our rental – will be in a quieter situation thanks to a vegetative buffer, fortuitous topography, and chickenless neighbors.

Our Rental Ohana

Target central for all nearby roosters