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Lang Elliott
Binaural Soundscapes | Podcasts | Videos | Birds | Mammals | Amphibians | Reptiles | Insects | Ramblings | Miscellaneous
I enjoy making up my own names for birds, especially when I’m not happy with the accepted common name. A case in point is the Northern Cardinal, one of our most common backyard birds here in the East. What have I decided to call it, and why? Read this post to find out!
Wrap your ears around this splendid recording: a lone Hermit Thrush, calling and singing at dusk against a backdrop of spring peepers. I made this recording in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. How exciting to witness the awe-inspiring transition from dusk into the darkened night …
It is early summer … I am sitting next to a small, trickling brook in deep forest, celebrating the dawning of the day. Various songbirds soon chime in, including Scarlet Tanager, Wood Thrush, Veery, Blue Jay, and Dark-eyed Junco. What a tranquil and healing combination of natural sounds …
Searching my collection for unused soundscapes, I came across this jewel: a lone American Robin singing at dusk with spring peepers chorusing in the background. This is a zen-infused recording, a simple yet profoundly moving soundscape that is at once relaxing and sublime …
I rise at dawn on this fine winter morning and excitedly venture out in my yard to record bird sounds. It is chilly, 24F, with snow patches clinging to the ground. Our pond is frozen over, reflecting the rising sun. Though winter still has a firm hold, there is a surprising variety of bird sounds …
Enjoy this beautiful summer dawn chorus from Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. Listen for the songs of American Crow, Yellow-breasted Chat, Mourning Dove, Painted Bunting, Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, and crickets …
We are born into a magical world of sensory delight, our beings naturally tuned to our surroundings. We are part of nature, our senses connecting us to the whole like an umbilical cord, allowing us to commune with and be nurtured by the source from which we have sprung …
As temperatures plummet here in upstate New York, I cannot help but dream of spring. Yesterday I stumbled upon a dawn chorus from May 31 in 2013, recorded at a beaver pond not far from where I live. When I listened to it, I was struck by its inherent beauty, by the sweetly balanced mix of frog and bird sounds as dawn unfolds …
What does it truly mean, as an adult, “to be a child again”? From my perspective, it is to touch upon an innocent frame of mind, an emotional state that is at once light-hearted, fun, and receptive to the beauty, to the miracle around us …
Warm spring weather has lured the American Toads into their breeding ponds and pools. Males grab at anything that moves and often clump together in a mass around single females. Amplexus pairs sink to the bottom, and females begin laying their long strings of eggs …
This morning I went out with one goal in mind: to get video footage of a singing Gray Catbird, silhouetted against the dawn sky. Was I successful? Judge for yourself …
Of all backyard bird sounds, perhaps the least musical is the song of the Common Grackle. Check out this funny video of males giving their raspy squeaks as they lean forward and puff out their feathers …
Enjoy this brief video of a snoring Pickerel Frog, that I made way back in 2009 when I first started dabbling in nature videography. Not bad, considering …
In this lovely video, I’ve brought together my favorite clips of Bloodroot in an attempt to convey the luminous quality of the flowers, informed by the depth of my personal experience of being there, immersed in the bloom and in search of creative expression …
Today I got my best underwater video footage of spawning male White Suckers, gathered at the base of a waterfall at the edge of town, excitedly awaiting the arrival of receptive females.
