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.
Scroll down to access recent publications or else drill down via the category links. You may also search for specific content (such as individual species) by using the search box below.
Free Newsletter:
Binaural Soundscapes | Podcasts | Videos | Birds | Mammals | Amphibians | Reptiles | Insects | Ramblings | Miscellaneous
Gentle Peepers & Wood Thrush
Last night I slept under the stars in the forest next to a beautiful pond. At dawn I recorded the calls of Spring Peepers set against the gentle gurgling of water. Then I went exploring and soon came upon a Wood Thrush, singing excitedly as an intermittent breeze passed through the forest canopy. I am so grateful that I spent the night under the stars …
Moo-Scape
During the third week of May, farmers release their cows into the meadows at nearby Finger Lakes National Forest. As you might suspect, their appearance can have a drastic effect on the natural soundscape, especially if mamma cows have been separated from their calves …
Abundant Life
Nature’s gift of the day: an avian celebration featuring a dozen or more species, recorded in hardwood forest here in upstate New York. I’ve christened it Abundant Life, due to its rich variety of bird sounds. Close your eyes and listen. How many species can you identify?
Morning Meditation 5-20-16
Last night I camped out in Shindagin Hollow. I laid my super-comfy sleeping mat directly on the ground next to a small pond created by beaver. Rising promptly at 4:30am, I engaged my soundscape microphone and then captured a relaxing chorus of bird songs set against the gentle gurgle of water pouring over an old beaver dam …
Veery Singing in the Rain
Having posted an intimate recording of a Veery about a week ago (Very Veery), I found myself thinking about my all-time favorite recording of the species … a lone male singing in the rain at Cranberry Glades Botanical Area in the mountains of West Virginia.
Toads at Dawn
Cool weather over the last two weeks has put a damper on the breeding activities of American Toads. I’ve been hard-pressed to get a good recording of their trilling. But last week I came upon a small cluster of toads sounding off at the break of dawn …
Sunday Morning Sermon
Enjoy this relaxing soundscape that I recorded this morning while meditating along a stream in Shindagin Hollow. What a wonderful sermon I beheld in glorious solitude while resting quietly in the Cathedral of Nature, not far from town …
Very Veery
Many mornings I am unable to even get a half-usable recording, but this morning I struck gold. You’re sure to enjoy this intimate recording of the spiraling flute-like song of a Veery …
Fountain of Bobolinks
On this beautiful spring day, I have just one thing to say … I am so incredibly fortunate to live in an area where I can enjoy the bubbling “song-fantasias” of Bobolinks, ecstatic voices from another world! Enjoy this engaging recording of four males perched near one another, spouting songs like a fountain spraying water upwards and outwards, as if partaking in a festive reunion …
Catbird Singing at the Break of Day
I delight in gathering sound portraits of species, with emphasis on depicting each bird dimensionally “in its habitat,” embedded within a pleasant mix of other nature sounds. Thus, you can imagine my delight when I encountered a Gray Catbird singing in a multiflora rose shrub next to the overflow of Ladyslipper Pond …
Wind in the Hemlocks
Sunday morning was breezy. I almost slept-in, but my inner voice would have nothing of it. By dawn, I was at a pothole pond in nearby Texas Hollow State Forest, recording wind in the hemlocks, along with the songs of four different songbirds and the loud honking of Canada Geese …
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!
