The Music of Nature Blog
Hi Friends! Welcome to my Music of Nature blog, an ever-growing collection of free online articles, place-based celebrations, audio postcards, photo and video studies, musings and more … all created in celebration of the voices of the natural world.
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Binaural Soundscapes | Podcasts | Videos | Birds | Mammals | Amphibians | Reptiles | Insects | Ramblings | Miscellaneous
Meadow After Rain
Rising once again at 4am, I rushed off to meet with my friend Melissa Groo, a talented wildlife photographer. We drove down into Shindagin Hollow then up again to a beautiful wet meadow at the edge of the forest, arriving art first light, just as the birds were beginning to sing …
Ovenbirds!
I rose at 4 am this morning and drove to a remote location in the hills above Shindagin Hollow. Upon arriving, I set my soundscape microphone in the forest next to the road. Water trickled softly down a nearby drainage ditch. Otherwise it was completely quiet. Then the birds began to sing …
Wren Remembrance
My favorite wren is without doubt the Winter Wren. It’s rambling, silvery song delights the ear and is quite unlike the song of any other wren. Yesterday, when I recorded the Wood Thrush in Shindagin Hollow with Beth Bannister, we reminisced about our experience ten years prior recording a Winter Wren, also in early May and almost at the same location …
Wood Thrush Return
Yesterday I rose early to hear the fluting of a Wood Thrush, but didn’t hear a peep. This morning, as if by magic, the songs of thrushes rained down upon the forest floor, glittering like stardust sprinkled upon the greening landscape. How enchanting and reassuring … the Wood Thrushes have once again returned!
Forest Drizzle
Although it rained all night, I rose early and drove through light fog to a forested area in hopes of hearing my first Wood Thrush of the year. No luck! In fact, there was next-to-nothing going on, except for the drip from trees and misty rain. I was disappointed, but decided to take a brief walk in the woods. And that is when the magic happened …
Here Come the Birds!
This morning was cloudy but calm, so I went to nearby Shindagin Hollow to see if there were any new arrivals (or local species) sounding off … and sure enough there were: Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Winter Wren, Ovenbird, Blue Jay … and more!
A Symphony of White-throats
This morning, I rose at 4:30am and headed for Finger Lakes National Forest, arriving at about 5:15am. Birds were already singing and soon I stumbled upon something special: a migrating flock of White-throated Sparrows, awakening to the day in a thicket at the edge of the woods …
Thrasher Cinema Success
Just as I was ending my field work on Sunday morning, a Brown Thrasher began singing from a patch of shrubs next to the road. I spent the next twenty minutes chasing after him as he flew from perch to perch. Finally, he settled in a tall hickory tree and put on quite a vocal performance …
A Grackle and a Finch
Several days ago, I paid a morning visit to my friend and fellow recordist Bob McGuire (we’ve done a number of trips together). Bob’s yard is full of House Finches and Common Grackles, attracted to the abundant evergreens surrounding his home. Luckily, it was a blue-sky day, so I managed to get some usable video footage of both species, with pretty decent sound …
Water Meditation
Enjoy this gentle recording of a gurgling brook with subtle bird songs in the background, recorded by yours truly in deep forest among the rolling hills near Ithaca, New York.
Downy Drummings
Nearly every day yields something valuable, but only if I get myself out there and immerse myself in the glory of the wilds. I never know what I’m going to find, even when I have a goal in mind. And more often than not, my ultimate “catch” is not at all what I had expected …
Red-bellied Soundings
This morning’s video catch: A Red-bellied Woodpecker giving its vibrant querrr calls, along with tapping at a potential nest site. I was very lucky to get this footage, after a frustrating morning trying to locate a Ruffed Grouse drumming log, with no success …
Lang’s First Thrasher
O frabjous day! The Brown Thrashers have arrived, nearly ten days earlier than last year. What a joyful surprise on this calm and sunny morning in upstate New York. A truly welcome sign that spring is blossoming according to plan, and that Old Man Winter has lost his grip and is quickly fading away …
Winter’s Last Gasp?
Spring came and then left, or so it seemed. Last weekend the temperatures dropped into the high teens and on Saturday we had snow flurries all morning. Thinking it might be our last snowfall of the season, I braved the cold and attempted to get some video footage of birds at the nearby Cornell Plantations Arboretum … I’m surprised at how fruitful my adventure was!
Drumming of the Drums
Have you ever heard a drumming drum? Not the barrel kind of drum, but rather a drum of the fish variety, more particularly the Freshwater Drum ? Well, unless you’re one of the very few to have been up-to-your-neck in a “symphony of drums,” you’re sure to be amazed by this recording by firefly expert Lynn Faust, made in Beaver Creek near Knoxville, Tennessee.