Check out the list of types of listening. “Learning how to listen is particularly relevant to understanding the lives of other animals. Most wild birds and mammals instinctually avoid human presence, so depending on your eyes alone may be a less effective method of contact than relying on your ears. When the robins nest on my porch in May and the Canada geese fly over in October, I am reminded that each species has a special way of voicing needs and desires, according to their circumstances. I am a part of their acoustic worlds, making and listening to the sounds of this place.”