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Binaural Soundscapes
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The season for insect song is rapidly unfolding. Here in upstate New York, it was remarkably quiet insect-wise until last weekend, when I finally heard meadow katydids, coneheads, bush katydids, and tree crickets sounding off in the dark of the night. So I jumped into action late Saturday night, hoping to capture a few pleasing insect soundscape recordings …
I arrived at Shindagin Hollow around 4:30am. It was dead quiet. I walked into the forest and made my way to a small, near-dry stream, with scattered stagnant pools. I had no particular expectations with regard to recording birds. Maybe a gentle chorus of distant, scattered singers? Maybe none at all? It’s mid-July and the soundscape was almost certain to be muted …
Over the Fourth of July holiday, Bob McGuire and I spent two days at Spring Pond Bog, a wonderful Nature Conservancy preserve in a remote area of the Adirondack Mountains. Our trip was rejuvenating and we experienced great pleasure in once again hearing the magical and utterly sublime bogland soundscape …
This season I’ve tried time and again to get a super-pleasing portrait of a Field Sparrow singing its exquisite dawn song. But try as I might, I was unable to beat the wonderful portrait I captured on May 22, way back in 2009 …
The song of the Eastern Bluebird is a delight to the ear, a series of bright, musical warbled phrases sounding like cheer … cheerily … cheer-cheerful-charmer. Females occasionally sing and sometimes answer their mate’s song with their own. Of special interest is the bluebird’s “dawn song,” an excited series of song phrases often preceded by staccato chit calls …
A few nights ago, I camped next to a marsh in nearby Finger Lakes National Forest, here in upstate New York. My plan was to get some sleep so that I could rise at 4am and enjoy the birds, singing at dawn. As it turned out, I stayed awake well into the wee hours of the morning, fascinated by the never-ending chorus of Bullfrogs and Green Frogs …
In early June, at the end of my rather frenetic recording expedition, I visited a friend in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania, not far from Erie. I spent one night there, sleeping on my friend’s porch and enjoying periods of heavy rain. As usual, I rose early. The rain had stopped, so I headed to a trail in nearby Erie National Wildlife Refuge and recorded birds singing against a pleasant backdrop of drip from the trees …
While browsing through recordings I gathered in 2011 during an expedition to the Rocky Mountain region, I stumbled across a real jewel. In the foothills of the Grand Tetons near Jackson Lake, Wyoming, I recorded a dawn chorus that features a lone American Robin singing in the distance. The robin’s songs are highly reverberant … a clear demonstration of how a bird’s song becomes married to its environment …
During my recent recording expedition, I made a quick swing through eastern Ohio to experience the Periodical Cicada emergence … that of Brood V, which occurs every seventeen years. There are three species involved, including: Magicicada septendecim, Magiciada cassini, and Magicicada septendecula …
During my recent recording expedition, I spent the night in Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky. I rose promptly at 4am, jumped into my car, and headed for a favorite location. I had only driven a mile when I suddenly came upon a Whip-poor-will, its eyes shining red in the middle of the dirt road. He flew as I got out of the car, but soon began singing from the surrounding forest. Soon, others joined in …
During my recent recording expedition, I spent the night camped next to a lake in the Charles C. Beam Wilderness Area near Maumee, Indiana. At 3am, a Barred Owl began calling nearby and soon another answered in the distance. Then, to my absolute delight, the two met up in the forest and participated in “caterwauling,” an excited exchange of hoots and hollers …
What could be more relaxing than listening to a Hermit Thrush singing after a rain, with water dripping from the trees? Such an exquisite soundscape, featuring a voice that is at once ethereal, tender, and gently caressing … the voice of solitude, of a shy and hidden bird of secluded forests … O spheral, spheral … O holy, holy …
Yesterday morning at 12:30 am, I recorded Green Frogs at a small woodland pond. With the temperature in the high 60’s, it was a laid-back performance, accentuated at times by the trills of a lone Gray Treefrog (with others calling in the distance). So meditative … but then something unexpected happened …
The Northern Mockingbird is well-known for its habit of singing at night. What most folks do not know is that the night-singers are primarily unmated males, which may sing almost continuously both day and night, especially when the moon is bright, in their quest to locate a mate. As luck would have it, I was able to record such a night singer during a recent visit to Virginia …
The night before leaving on a weeklong journey, I drove to Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area to see what the frogs and toads were up to. I really didn’t plan on doing any recording. I just wanted to pay my respects to nature before leaving town. Little did I anticipate the wonderful mix of sound I would stumble upon …
