In late March 2015, ornithologist Bruce M. Beehler set off on a solo three-month trek to track songbird migration and the northward progress of spring through America. Traveling via car, canoe, bike, and on foot, Beehler followed woodland warblers and other neotropical songbird species from the southern border of Texas, where the birds first arrive after their winter sojourns in South America and the Caribbean, northward through the Mississippi drainage...

In this ode to individuality and a celebration of the joy of sound, each bird wakes up to a new day and gives voice to its own song.

One day, amidst the usual chirps, tweets, and caws, a little brown bird decides to try singing a new song and sets off an interesting reaction.

"The mountains, trees, and plants are young and full of color, but the animals are dull and drab, so the painter gets to work...The painter is about to pack up to go home when a little gray bird flies out of the forest. The paint box is empty, but on the tip of the painter's brush remains a tiny bit of gold, which she drops at the back of the bird's throat. And when the painter asks the bird to sing, golden notes tumble from its beak"--

When a small bear, who admires the singing of the birds, tries to create his own song, he learns that each animal has its own unique abilities.