One bell miner is a delight to hear. And for a minute or two, a colony of forty pinging away is wondrous, as if stars could talk. But then the chorus starts to irritate, like ringing in the ears or the plink, plink, plink of a dripping faucet. Unlike North American birds, where territorial calling is seasonal, these birds start pinging at dawn and go right through to dusk every day of the year. “It’s one of the world’s most constant, pervasive animal sounds,” says Tim Low. “The miners are saying, ‘Stay out; if you come into the colony, you’ll get attacked.’”
