Dawn Chorus at Beaver Pond. Recorded by Lang Elliott, 31 May 2013, near Ithaca, NY. Note: this is a 3D binaural soundscape; please wear headphones for a realistic spatial effect.
As temperatures plummet here in upstate New York (currently 14F and heading for below zero this weekend), 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. Somehow it had escaped my notice. But 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.
I’ve decided to share a ten-minute segment with you, so that you can enjoy the music of spring while winter still has a firm hold. Please take a few minutes to listen, with headphones or earbuds if possible. Close your eyes and allow yourself to sink into the wonder of nature. Experience a few moments of peace, a respite from the worries and concerns of your day.
p.s. I am so impressed by this soundscape, I may add it as a new title in my musicofnature.com soundscape offerings. Is it good enough? Do you think I should add it … over an hour of continuous, pristine unfolding?
I just clicked on “Dream of Spring” because we just got at least 6″ of heavy, wet snow overnight here in Cleveland and spring is only a dream at the moment. I really like this recording! I enjoy the back-and-forth of the Green Frogs, and the basso profundo of the Bullfrogs. (3:19 is great!) What a great contrast between the frequency range of the frogs and the birds! This recording gives a wonderful sense of place.
So love this Lang! Way to capture the natural echo in this beautiful chorus!!
So glad to hear you are on the mend. I’ve missed your emails. This recording is just super. I loved the frogs calls the most.
Hello Lang, Thanks for this beaut recording. It is going to be 33C here today in Brisbane, Qld, Australia. I am waiting for the cooler days of autumn to come. Robert
Which is worse … 33C in Brisbane or 0C here in Ithaca? Autumn will bring relief for you and spring will bring relief to me!
As naturalist John Muir eloquently wrote:
“Here is calm
so deep, grasses cease waving…
wonderful how completely
everything in wild nature
fits into us, as if truly part
and parent of us.
The sun shines not on us, but in us.
The rivers flow not past, but through us,
thrilling, tingling, vibrating
every fiber and cell of this substance
of our bodies, making them glide and sing.”
Thank you Lang for sharing this fabulous soundtscape, this was a joy – Listening pays!
I’ll keep you in my prayers. Take care of yourself.
That’s a great quote, one I’m not familiar with. But not a surprise … Muir wrote countless wonderful things about nature and our undeniable connection to it.
Yes do add it. This is really wonderful. I love it!
Nature is a masterpiece. How lucky we are. Thank you Lang, for bringing this to our homes. Your poems, recordings, videos, musings…they’re all such gifts to the world. Please keep being you to the fullest. It inspires us all. So glad to hear you’re feeling better.
Why thank you Marjesca. Temperature outside is now 0F; that’s cold enough to harden a seed or two!
getting ready for a single-digit temp day and night.
plan to keep this handy. nature with LANG is grand ♥
From Maine, have lived in the Northwest for years. Takes me home! YES! Thank you so much for sharing!
Gravitational waves were just discovered. Waves created by black holes splashing into each other 1.3 billion years ago. Kinda like waves when a frog jumps in the pond.
Ain’t nature grand?
Wow. I grew up in New England and this really takes me back. I live in Northern Arizona,(over 30 years now), and while I love it here so much, this is so delightful to hear.
Yes, Lang! This is wonderful. I feel better already. And those bullfrogs sure to add a great bass line!
I love the large frequency range covered by this chorus and the clarity and spatial separation of the individual voices.
Lisa: I too love how the bullfrogs add body to the recording, a foundation of sorts.
Your soundscapes are always so magical! I also eagerly await Spring each year. Thank you for sharing with us. And yes, please add it! I can’t get enough of the red-winged blackbirds!
This is absolutely amazing , when I try anything this long I get either jets or some other loud sounds. Once even picked up sounds from gun club that I was not aware of.
I transported myself and imagined I was there. I used to have a meadow, pond and woods that I enjoyed for 20 years. Thanks for the memory!
I can feel the sun and smell the air. . . . . Ahhhhhhhhh. . . . . This is great. I may have to listen to this daily.
Like · Reply · 1 min
I approve! Given the popularity of this post, I suppose I should feature more spring and summer soundscapes, to help loosen winter’s hold. Personally, I live for Spring. I’m “spring-centric,” meaning I think of spring year-round. I just can’t help myself.
Absolutely delightful! Also,since I’m your neighbor, I want your other fans to know that you are really looking pretty good, despite that post-treatment photo, especially considering what they put you through! Onward and upward, Lang!!
Hey … how about that? Somebody actually thinks I’m “looking pretty good”! Quite a compliment for 66-year-old who has just been through hell. Thank you Sally!
Beautiful!! Thank you
So alive and so relaxing. Great ‘music’ to have in the background. Please do a CD.
Delightful, Lang. Perfect balm for this chilly night! Many thanks!
I turned up the volume on my speakers, and you should see my dachshunds run around, trying to figure out what’s making those noises! They’re hilarious! The piercing bird-calls really get their attention. The pairs of bull-frogs “honking” in tandem sound rather like truck horns or train whistles. The sounds are wonderful, and amazing the way they blend and contrast, creating a uniquely beautiful musical tapestry. I have some CDs with nature sounds I played almost to death, including one of a summer thunderstorm. That one helped one of my dogs overcome her fear of thunder, since I played it… Read more »
Absolutely beautiful! It was very relaxing. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely wonderful recording, and perfect to listen while preparing for this upcoming blast of arctic air.
Lang, I must say, I came across an old tape of yours at the Buffalo Audubon Center (Guide to Night Sounds), and I absolutely love listening to it. You’ve really inspired me to purchase a digital sound recorder and mic. Hearing these sounds of spring is really making me want to finally get out there and record. Thank you!
Yes, a real blast of arctic air is on the way. I’ll have to pull out my warmest jacket. “A Guide to Night Sounds’ was quite a production, designed for family or kid listening, I remember how much fun I had putting it together.
Thanks, Lang! I just put my head down on my desk, closed my eyes, and melted into spring. I heard all the above birds except the grackles (did I doze off?) – maybe an oriole and swamp sparrow. Ruth
Good ear Ruth. I think there is a Swamp Sparrow singing in the background. But I haven’t yet heard the oriole. I’ll have to listen again.
I think I hear Woodthrush, yellowthroat, red winged blackbirds, grackles, mourning doves, yellow warbler, warbling vireo, cat bird….it’s great therapy for winter doldrums! Thank you!
Nice list. I didn’t hear the catbird, but I did notice the others, plus bullfrogs and green frogs of course. I’m not good with the high-pitchers, so I wonder if anyone else is hearing warblers or sparrows that haven’t been mentioned.
Also a Red-eyed Vireo in there (second half), as well as Brown-headed Cowbird. I thought I may have heard an Ovenbird a couple times. To answer your question, a thousand times yes, Lang! Dawn soundscapes are some of the best music in the world. What a gift to be able to mentally immerse oneself in a place throbbing with so much life. Takes me back to the long walks I used to take in early morning growing up on a farm about an hour west of there–Wellsville. Thank you so much, Lang, you’re a blessing!
Mary Ann: I’m impressed … you have a great ear for bird songs!
And I never get to hear the bullfrogs….thanx! (Minnesota)
Lovely sounds. You Yankees are missing out! This sounds like Louisiana in late January and February. By all means add these beautiful sounds. Very relaxing.
Yep … We’re definitely missing out in Feb and early March, when you guys might be experiencing rip-roaring chorus. Plus, come spring and summer, you guys have such a plethora of treefrogs to enjoy, while we only have a few.
A soundscape that is full of promise and life. Thanks for reminding us that spring is not far away. The cat is loving it – much better than the winter soundscape of birds at the feeder here in Maine.
not that I don’t like winter …
Marvelous! Best fun is identifying the background birds.
Dick: What birds are you hearing?
Beautiful natural Upstate New York. Home sweet home. Sounds like Buffalo Audubon’s Beaver Meadows pond near Ithaca.
Hmmm … never heard of it. Can you send me GPS coordinates? The exact location of my recording is:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3738738,-76.656706,364m/data=!3m1!1e3
My soundscape mic was placed right along the road next to the wetland, facing north.
I found Beaver Meadows:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6711224,-78.3816595,884m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
Looks like a great location!
Yes, please add it AND make it an hour! This morphs today’s Cleveland weather into something almost bearable; I can almost feel the sunshine. Only 37 days til the equinox!
It will last more than an hour. Around 74 minutes, maybe longer.
Wow! No re-mix? We had a similar recording for our wedding 35 years ago the 13th.from a record of White throated sparrow with a brook in the background.Lovely! Yes do put it out as a CD.
Great stuff, Lang (as always). Hope you’re doing well and we’ll see you again on your rambles.
Bill: I’m doing better for sure, but it’s not an easy road. On a more positive note, I hope to visit you guys in late May or early June, during a trip to the Zanesville area for meadow birds.
Love it! Please do publish this and other soundscapes. The sounds of nature are so renewing.
YES. PLEASE!
That is GREAT!!!!! I loved it!!!! Oh I can’t wait for Spring to come now!!! Yes, add it!!!
Thanks for a “breath of Spring” on a cold winters day in Tennessee.
“Breath of Spring” … I like that and should have used that for the title of my post (unfortunately, it’s too late now to change).
Bullfrogs. The best!
Please do. I love that time of year very much, and would appreciate an “over an hour” piece to go to sleep with in the middle of winter.
We have a very similar ecosystem to upper NY State here in New Brunswick, Canada, although we don’t hear Bullfrogs so much anymore, for reasons unknown to me. Don MacDougall. Fredericton, NB, Canada
Don: Sorry to hear your bullfrog populations are down. Maybe it’s just a disease cycle and they will recover within a few years. I think that happens around here. I know a pond where the bullfrogs were thick, and then one year they’d all but disappeared. Five or six years later, the population was once again healthy. My assumption was and is that the downturn was due to some kind of communicable disease or else a very harsh winter, but that they eventually recovered. I don’t think there’s any evidence for large bullfrog populations declines due to the chytrid fungus… Read more »
This recording instantly transports me to one of my favorite places/times here in New England. Thanks for sharing this!
Awesome! The best part, besides the beautiful bird song, was when the fly went buzzing by. I literally thought the fly had just flown by my left shoulder. I turned to look for it. That put me right there in the soundscape.
Yes … I love it when those flies go flying by … as long as they don’t ram directly into the microphone! The most fun are dragonflies, which flutter rather than buzz. Sometimes they’ll hover for a moment around the mic, which can be a little disconcerting when listening over headphones. Another great flyby sound is created by big saturnid moths, slowly fluttering around the mic in the dead of the night. Not exactly relaxing, but thrilling to behold.
Absolutely!
: >)
This was ethereally beautiful. I am working up in Maine and tomorrow the temperature will be close to zero. This reminded me of back home in northeast PA. THANKS!
Same here … really low temps tomorrow. Yet I still firmly believe that “spring is just around the corner.” Am I mistaken?
Yes, it is wonderful. Bring on spring.