World Listening Day: Why Lucknow’s Parks Still Hum With Birdsong at Dawn

World Listening Day falls on 18 July each year, marking a global effort to get people paying attention to the sounds around them. In Lucknow, that prompted a closer look at five of the city’s green spaces at 6 am, before traffic and horns take over — and the visits found that despite the city’s rapid urbanisation, nature still has a distinct voice here.

At Janeshwar Mishra Park, the coppersmith barbet’s rhythmic ‘tuk-tuk-tuk’ rang through the trees, joined by whistling Oriental magpie robins, chattering bulbuls, parakeets calling overhead, and a steady cicada-and-cricket hum. Regular visitor Ramesh Srivastava said the sounds help him relax, and yoga practitioner Sunita described the park as a peaceful escape from city life.

Lohia Park offered a gentler morning — birds calling from the trees, leaves rustling in the breeze, insects humming through the grass. Gatekeeper Manish Tiwari said visitors come for the fresh air and peace, walker Piyush Srivastava said the sounds leave him refreshed, and visitor Shubh Patel called it an ideal way to start the day.

The NBRI Botanical Garden produced what amounted to a full dawn chorus: a koel’s call first, followed by mynas, parrots, bulbuls, crows and peacocks. Student Yashi Singh said the birdsong encourages people to put aside their earphones and pay attention to their surroundings. At Kukrail Forest, crickets dominated alongside a distant peacock call, quacking ducks and rustling squirrels, with a mobile sound meter recording around 59 decibels.

The quietest site by far was the 37-acre CG City wetland behind Ekana Stadium, where noise levels measured between 30 and 40 decibels as openbill storks called across the water. Birdwatchers there spotted Sarus cranes, Oriental darters and black-winged stilts among the reeds.

‘Such natural soundscapes are now rare and can almost be counted on one’s fingertips,’ said Prof Venkatesh Dutta. Prof Adarsh Tripathi highlighted the wellbeing value of the findings: ‘Natural soundscapes help the brain slow down, reduce stress and anxiety, and improve attention. Even a few minutes spent listening to birdsong or rustling leaves can have a calming effect and support overall mental well-being.’

Image: Wikimedia Commons/by J.M.Garg (CC BY 3.0) — a coppersmith barbet, one of the birds heard across Lucknow’s parks at dawn.