Name: Underwater Antarctic Soundscape at PALAOA | ROSS SEALS by ꘣ ☽ ◮︒ ◉ ⧟ ⦂ ⬙ ✧
Duration: 30 min

Read over on the ross seal’s vocalizations. I didn’t think it would be like this! This is so trippy! Great recording.

Steady rainfall decreases and the night chorus is active; I recorded this with a double-mid-side system

Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest Night

Insects and frogs call throughout the night in the cloud forest near a small stream, and some wind gusts pass through the canopy, shaking rain drops down.  The rain was light and falling through the foliage.  I recorded this with a Double Mid-side system.

Costa Rica Cloud Forest Night Chorus Near Small Stream with Gentle Rain and Wind

Dawn chorus over the floodplain meadows of Wheldrake Ings NR, a rich mix of wildfowl with woodland birds behind. I've left the gas gun bird scarers in!
MKH60s, SD MixPre 3. 5.30am 30th March 2024

Wheldrake Ings at Dawn, Easter Saturday

Raining Frogs And Dogs 240408

I had the pleasure of spending the month of December 2023 recording in a few different jungle locations in Costa Rica. The experience was wonderful and inspiring. Most of the trip was spent on Osa Peninsula, in lodges that bordered Parque Nacional Corcovado (Corcovado National Park).

The peninsula and the park are recognized as one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, with 2.5% of the world's species represented, many of them endemic.

While the history of the park is fraught with controversy dating back to European colonization, the importance of conservation cannot be understated. 

My recordings are filled with wonderful moments that deserve to be heard. I'm parsing through everything, but I thought I'd start with one of my favorite, 90 minutes midnight insect chorusing. Growing up in the mid-Atlantic states of the US and with roots and time lived in the Deep South, few sounds bring me to a state of transcendence like the orchestrated song of insects at night. The spectrally tight but densely-layered score of hundreds or thousands of insects in concert is soothing to the ears and the best sleep-aid I can experience for myself. From time to time hungry bats flutter past.

Normally I'd point out a few voices along the way, but I'm out of my depth when it comes to identifying insects in neotropical forests, so I'll let the ecosystem speak for itself.

Recorded at Finca Sueño De Osa Lodge, Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica

Parque Nacional Corcovado https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corcovado_National_Park

Interested in my recordings? Contact me here: https://linktr.ee/AndyMartinNatureSound

Costa Rica Midnight Insect Chorus near Corcavado

Högåsen - Song Trush 240420

TWO HOURS, PELOPHYLAX PEREZI, RÂ VERDE, IBERIAN GREEN FROG, MS STEREO MKH60,MKH30 SONOSAX MXD2 .

240421T0600Z IBERIAN GREEN FROG, OLIVAL DA CATIVA NORMALIZADO DUAS HORAS

I got to spend December 2023 recording in several jungle locations in Costa Rica. The experience was wonderful and inspiring. Most of the trip was spent on Osa Peninsula, in lodges that bordered Parque Nacional Corcovado (Corcovado National Park). With nearly 2.5% of the world's species represented, many of them endemic, it is  recognized as one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet.

On the same morning as the previous  Midnight Chorus recording https://soundcloud.com/soundeziner/cr-fincasueno-midnightchorus, a troop of Golden Mantled Howler Monkeys greeted the Dawn and their neighbors (and the rest of the jungle) the only way they know how. Male mantled howlers have an enlarged hyoid bone, a hollow amplifying bone near their vocal cords that gives the ability to generate great "howling"  calls that can heard for kilometers.  Howling allows the monkeys to exercise territory and remain in contact  without expending energy through movement or bearing the risks of physical confrontation. As someone who likes little more than sitting in a forest listening to nature speak, I approve of this lazing behavior.

While this howling is their most well-known vocal characteristic, I'm rather fond of the popping and grunting that warms up to the howl and pads the time in between. It's relatively quiet, and is most noticeable only when near the vocalizing howler. The best description of it that I can think of is like the "vocal fry" not uncommon in many of today's pop singers. Check it out near the start of the first round of howling around 2:40 (link in the comments)

After a first round of loud howls, the group takes a break. With what is known about Mantled Howler activity, they're likely sleeping, or maybe eating. After 20-is minutes, they pick up again for a brief session before settling back down. It's possible they've been moving during this time as they're quieter during this round. Finally, just before Sunrise at 05:38 in the morning, they pick up again, slowly building and then tapering off after nearly 30 minutes of vocal exercising.

After speaking with other recordists, I know I am far from alone as someone who loves their sound, but I I may be one of the few that enjoys waking up to their calls. Every morning I heard this in the distance or nearby was a morning I walked out to breakfast with a big silly grin on my face.

Another voice that has become a personal favorite is the Yellow-throated Toucan, with their rhythmic, bouncing song that seems to carry on forever. There is at least one singing for most of this recording, but you can get your first good listen behind the Howlers at 53:27 or skip ahead to 1:06:02 to hear two singing at each other.

Hummingbirds are abundant, and you'll hear their buzzing wings fly by and around the microphones numerous times. Also coming and going are raucous and noisy Scarlet Macaws and Red-lored Parrots, a lone Red-eyed Tree Frog, a visiting Little Tinamou, and more. 

I'll point out a few voices along the way in the comments, but I'm out of my depth when it comes to identifying neotropical birds, so I'll largely let the ecosystem speak for itself. Feel free to poke around with links in the comments to scoot around the recording, or just let it play out over your morning coffee like I do.

Feel like seeing some fancy colors? I've been playing at visualizing soundscapes lately. Check out the video for this recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/duxU2INkyXI?si=xhIrgiHiOSOk922l

AMNS Costa Rica 01

Golden Mantled Howlers at Dawn

240427T1600Z MS STEREO FROGS OLIVAL DA CATIVA

MS STEREO MKH 40 MKH 30 GREEN IBERIAN FROG

240501t1000Z MS STEREO MKH40MKH30 FROGS OLIVAL DA CATIVA

A 3O-minute example from the acoustic records of 15 January, 2013, in the underwater/under-ice soundscape at PALAOA. None of these sounds have been treated with effects of any kind. 

Original open-source files here: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.844106

Came across this occurrence for a few days in mid-January. The sounds were pretty much continual all the time, varying in intensity and frequency. I found the same to be the case in other years as well, and also just January. I'd never heard anything quite like it except for this: https://www.youtube.com/user/VoyagerPWS/videos 

From what I gather, these are the "vocalizations" of Ross seals - the rarest of all Antarctic pinnipeds - (see the link at the bottom). Why and how they are doing this is not clear, and probably never really will be.  At most other times during the year what you predominately hear are calls of Weddell, Leopard and Crabeater seals; and occasionally high, rather distant vocalization of what are probably whales. 

After listening to this for a while, feeling it permeate completely through the brainwaves, from the back of my being it's like a memory starts to come forward, as if coming back from a dream... a dream within a dream... The essence of what these sounds are, whatever they are, have something to do with the roots of our existence. All of this in fact. Everything we're hearing. Life on earth wouldn't exist if it weren't for the ocean and what's in it. What's first is on the bottom. The habitats at the deepest part of this planet occur within the sea. What came first? What has continued until today since the beginning? That is cosmic, and for us here, sprouted of earth, everything has evolved from the waters. Our most ancient ancestry. Before life took flight in the sky, it took flight in the water. We all want to fly. We all want to sing, to call, to cry... The universe sings through us, and we are called to live, cried to life. 

http://epic.awi.de/18506/1/Kin2008b.pdf 
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Underwater Antarctic Soundscape at PALAOA | ROSS SEALS

꘣ ☽ ◮︒ ◉ ⧟ ⦂ ⬙ ✧

Recent comments

Ryan Smith - Sound Designer

Related tracks