Last week, I went on a brief camping trip to the Adirondack Mountains with my friend Beth Bannister. Late summer is a quiet time in the Northwoods, so our expectations were low. Although we had bad luck at first, something wonderful happened during the last night of our journey. At Helldiver Pond, deep in the Moose River Plains, we got lucky and captured a wonderful Coyote performance that ranks among the most compelling in my collection.
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Catbird Night Song Reborn
by Lang Elliott | Aug 16, 2021 | 47 comments
In late May of 1991, I came upon a gray catbird singing at night under a full moon, with bullfrogs and green frogs sounding off in the background. I documented the event with my parabolic microphone, which, unfortunately, was a single-mic setup that produced a recording devoid of any sense of space. Join me as I attempt to breath new life into that recording by transforming it into a spacious binaural listening experience.
READ MOREMockingbird Song Bout
by Lang Elliott | Jul 26, 2021 | 71 comments
Enjoy this 4K video featuring a Northern Mockingbird singing from its perch in an apple tree. If you know your bird sounds, you should hear phrases that remind you of the songs of northern cardinal, tufted titmouse, blue jay, gray catbird, white-breasted nuthatch, wood thrush, eastern towhee, northern flicker, hairy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker … and maybe more!
READ MOREGrotto Drip
by Lang Elliott | Jul 18, 2021 | 44 comments
In mid-Apri, I visited Lost Maples State Natural Area in the Texas Hill Country. Shortly before dusk, I hiked to the Grotto, a drippy limestone bluff overhang located along a tributary of the Sabinal River. There I recorded the variable plops, plinks, splats and thunks of droplets landing in pools or on wet stones in the stream-bed below … while a pair of screech-owls added their musical trills to the magic of the night.
READ MORETurkey Roost
by Lang Elliott | Jul 5, 2021 | 63 comments
During my recent visit to Aravaipa Canyon in early May, I captured a pristine soundscape featuring a flock of Wild Turkeys, calling excitedly at dawn from their roost in a towering cottonwood tree. You’ll love it … a potpourri of yelps, gobbles, purts, and mysterious low frequency hums that are only audible from a short distance … “turkey talk” at its very best!
READ MOREWind, Ravens, Reeds
by Lang Elliott | Jun 27, 2021 | 40 comments
At first light, I hike into Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park. Gusty wind blows through a dense thicket of stiff reeds, producing a plethora of snaps, crackles and pops. Frolicking ravens croak repeatedly as they fly up and down the Rio Grande River, their calls echoing off the steep cliffs above. Such a pleasing, enveloping mix of the sounds of the wind, ravens and reeds!
READ MOREWolf Mountain
by Lang Elliott | Feb 20, 2021 | 42 comments
While I’ve recorded in wild areas across North America for over 30 year, there is one species I’ve had trouble documenting … the Gray Wolf. Until last week, I had only managed to capture one recording of this timid and elusive mammal… the distant howls of a lone individual sounding off in the middle of the night in the White Mountains of Arizona …
READ MOREAravaipa Dreamer
by Lang Elliott | Feb 10, 2021 | 40 comments
I cannot tell a lie … I am the Aravaipa Dreamer. Day in, day out, I dream of being in Aravaipa Canyon, one of my favorite places on Planet Earth. And now it appears my dreams will come true. In early March, I will be embarking on a three-month nature recording expedition to the Southwest …
READ MORECoyote Moon
by Lang Elliott | Jan 22, 2021 | 51 comments
While sifting through recordings yesterday, I came across my all-time favorite coyote outburst, captured shortly before dawn in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, back in 2011. I was with fellow recordist Ted Mack. We set up camp at the Cade’s Cove campground, but didn’t retire after dark like all the other campers. Instead, we rushed off to hike the 10-mile loop road (which is closed at night for cars), stopping here and there in hopes of recording something interesting. We were not disappointed …
READ MOREBusy as a Beaver
by Lang Elliott | Jan 10, 2021 | 55 comments
Early last autumn, I recorded the sounds of a beaver colony that had taken up residence in a nearby wetland. My venture was a success. Not only did I capture the scraping, chewing and moaning sounds of the beaver, I also documented periodic visits by barred owls, their resonant hoots echoing across the landscape.
Although I’m happy with my recordings, a drama was unfolding that concerned me … a drought had nearly dried up the wetland, forcing the colony to move upstream to the last remaining section with water. In what appeared to be a frantic bid to avoid catastrophe, the beaver quickly built a new dam, constructed a new den, and then began deepening the channel by shoving large amounts of mud on to the banks … clearly a “last-ditch effort” to preserve their aquatic environment.
READ MOREWinter Rain
by Lang Elliott | Jan 3, 2021 | 60 comments
Happy New Year 2021! After nearly a year of ignoring my blog (a break I sorely needed), I’m jumping back into it, with the goal of posting regularly in the weeks and months to come. To commemorate the new year with nature sounds, I spent a number of hours attempting to record light rain falling in an oak woods, the raindrops splatting against compressed leaves and patches of snow. Altogether I’m quite happy with the result …
READ MOREThe Wat’ry Mirror – A Celebration of Water Striders
by Lang Elliott | Jan 11, 2020 | 75 comments
Not long ago, I became entranced by Water Striders inhabiting a small brook … the remarkable shadows they cast on the bottom of pools, the bright “starburst” reflections where their feet touch the water, and the wonderful play of light on the water’s surface when they skitter here and there.
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