Get up early on a spring morning and listen. Birds sing hardest around dawn, and nobody’s charging admission.

Dawn is the loudest part of the day outdoors and the least attended. Birds are at their most active in the first stretch of light, which means the best version of that sound happens before most people are conscious. The only requirement is being there. That is also the only reason most people miss it.

Set the alarm for first light one day this week and step outside with nothing in your ears. Stay ten minutes, which is long enough for it to stop being novel and start being pleasant. If you cannot manage an early start, a window left open works better than nothing.