To address both of your points:

Yes, that sentence must have slipped through my proofreading. Maybe I should start reading out loud haha. “But she heard nothing except rustling trees in the wind and chirping birds” sounds better, right?
I only did that because I wanted to make sure the reader realized it, but yeah you’re definitely right that it works better without explaining it. Besides, with that paragraph removed, the lightsaber description doesn’t interrupt the flow of the action as much.

Thanks for the help! I appreciate your comments, too.