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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 …
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!
In searching through my collection, I uncovered this pleasing dawn chorus that I recorded at Land Between the Lakes , Kentucky, way back in 1995. It is a fairly busy chorus, featuring two Wood Thrushes singing back-and-forth. In the background, one can hear a Whip-poor-will, along with a din of bird song (a Cardinal being fairly prominent). Filling-in the low end are distant Barred Owls and a lone Mourning Dove …
Winter has returned in spades! There’s perhaps five inches of snow on the ground and last night the temperature dropped to 10F. It feels like mid-January, and it’s hard to believe that it was in the high 60s no more than a week ago. So I spent the morning in my studio, huddled in front of my computer, editing bird videos I gathered during warmer weather the week before …
Bluebirds are at it again, courting in preparation for their nesting season. I’ve been hearing them sing for about two weeks, so I went this morning, hoping to videotape one in full song. I was not successful, but I did manage to capture something very special… mating feedingbehavior!
I rose early this morning and drove to a nearby natural area in hopes of getting videos of a Northern Mockingbird. Luck was with me. Shortly after arriving, I found a cooperative singing male and managed to snag some fairly nice footage, with decent sound to boot!
Our Eastern Phoebe showed up about a week ago. This morning he was singing like crazy, so I shot some video. Have you ever noticed that the male has two different song patterns? …
This morning I visited Willow Pond, a favorite spot of mine in the nearby Finger Lakes National Forest. It was cool and foggy. There was not much activity … a few male Red-winged Blackbirds setting up territories, a Song Sparrow or two singing from shrubbery, a few woodpeckers drumming in the distance …
I am so excited! I just discovered another jewel … a recording of an American Robin awakening at dawn next to a small mountain brook. It only lasts five minutes, but it is so incredibly pleasing to my ear. Please don’t play it too loudly … it is made of fine silk and should be handled with care!
I was just looking through some old work and came across my bird song ditties … a project that is at least six years old. I created these for kids, to help them learn to read while also exposing them to common bird songs. Let me know what you think of them!
This morning, I got up at dawn and went out with my video gear in hopes of getting some nice footage. It was a frustrating session. When it comes to nature immersion, is it really a good thing for me to be driven primarily by my goals, and by the technology I am using to capture images and sounds? The following essay addresses this concern …
Wintering in the southern states, the American Woodcock (which I affectionately refer to as the PeentMeister) will soon begin its trek northward, arriving on its breeding grounds as early as late February in states such as Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. The breeding display is remarkable …
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 …
