Crakes, rails and crane

A curated collection of sounds from the wild, from SoundCloud recording artists.

Wildlife Sound Recordings

Field Recording

Your 2024 Playback

Little Crake

Corncrake

Quail

Berlin

Thrush Nightingale
recorded
Sikkalahti, Finland 
2am 5th June 2002

This performance is unusual in the almost continuous delivery, rather than separate strophes with intervals between.

nightingale after midnight

Canis lupaster (=Canis anthus) Loup doré africain. African wolf or golden wolf
Enregistré au Maroc à Cala iris le 23 mars 2023 à 23h59.
Enregistrement avec couple de MKH 8040 en ORTF et Mixpre 3.
Photo : cc by sa 3 Cécile Bloch

Canis lupaster - Loup doré africain - African wolf

A stag is passing by in the woods of Svanøya island in Norway. I think the hinds is being chased as you can hear some movement before the stag is entering the scene. The strongest rut is in the middle of the recording and luckily it does not distort my recording. 

Sony PCM D50
LOM Microusi

Deer Passing.WAV

Voici un des sons surprenants que j’ai pu enregistrer au cours du voyage en Patagonie en novembre 2023 avec Fernand Deroussen. 
Attention à utiliser un dispositif d'écoute permettant de bien restituer les sons graves !

En arrivant dans la vallée de Chingue, au sud-est de El Calafate, nous avions l’impression qu’il y avait des travaux dans un chalet, comme des coups de marteau. 
Alors que je cherchais à enregistrer un oiseau, j’ai pu entendre distinctement un son sourd, répétitif à quelques mètres de moi et ce son provenait du sol ! Il y avait des trous dans le sol, caractéristiques d’un micromammifère. En croisant plusieurs sources d’informations, j’ai alors pu déterminer qu’il s’agissait du Tuco tuco de Magellan (Ctenomys magellanicus). 

Déjà, Charles Robert Darwin dans son récit du voyage du Beagle entre 1826 et 1836 écrivait à propos de cette espèce : « Au R. Negro, dans le nord de la Patagonie, il y a un animal qui a les mêmes habitudes et probablement des espèces très proches, mais que je n'ai jamais vu. Son bruit est différent de celui de l'espèce Maldonado [Ctenomys brasiliensis] ; il n'est répété que deux fois au lieu de trois ou quatre, et il est plus distinct et plus sonore : lorsqu'on l'entend de loin, il ressemble tellement au bruit que l'on fait en coupant un petit arbre avec une hache, que j'ai parfois eu des doutes à son sujet » (Jaksic 2023).

Le capitaine du Beagle, Robert Fitz-Roy, rapporte que "ce nom indien [tucu-tucu], prononcé de manière gutturale, exprime le curieux son produit par ces créatures lorsqu'elles sont sous terre,  un bruit qui ressemble un peu au coup d'un marteau éloigné » (Jaksic 2023).  Le son peut être entendu à au moins 10-15 mètres du terrier (Francescoli 1999).
Les Ctenomys sont des rongeurs vivant dans le sol. Soixante-neuf espèces ont été décrites, toutes présentent en Amérique du Sud (Zache et al. 2021). 
Malheureusement, le répertoire acoustique de ces espèces a été peu étudié. La plupart des données ont été obtenues en laboratoire et les rares études sur des espèces dans leur milieu naturel ne portent que sur les sons audibles en dehors des galeries souterraines. Les vocalisations des Ctenomys n’ont été étudiées que chez trois espèces. Ces espèces peuvent aussi produire des sons non vocaux produits par des vibrations de leur corps ou des claquements de dents (Zache et al. 2021). 
Dans cet enregistrement, il s’agit d’une émission vocale, de type séquentiel. L’animal ouvre la bouche, lève la tête et contracte son corps pour produire les sons (Francescoli 1999). Dans une étude sur deux autres espèces de Ctenomys, Zaché et son équipe ont pu mettre en évidence 5 types de vocalisation différents (Zache et al. 2021). 
Il est probable qu'il s'agisse ici d'un cri d'alarme en présence d'intrus. Mais sachant que les vocalisations de cette espèce n’ont pas fait l’objet d’études à ce jour, il est difficile d’en connaître réellement la signification (Jaksic, comm. pers 2023).

Cette espèce n'est pas menacée (LC (Llobet et al. 2023)). 

Bibliographie :
FRANCESCOLI, Gabriel, 1999. A preliminary report on the acoustic communication in Uruguayan Ctenomys (Rodentia, Octodontidae): basic sounds types. Bioacoustics-the International Journal of Animal Sound and Its Recording - BIOACOUSTICS. 1 janvier 1999. Vol. 10, pp. 203‑218. 
JAKSIC, Fabian, 2023. Historical and current knowledge of the Magellanic tuco-tuco Ctenomys magellanicus in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, South America. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural. 11 septembre 2023. Vol. 96. 
LLOBET, Toni, VELIKOV, Ilian, SOGORB, Lluís, PEACOCK, Faansie, JUTGLAR, Francesc, MASCARELL, Àlex et MARTÍ & JES, Blanca, 2023. All the Mammals of the World. Barcelona : Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-84-16728-66-4. 
ZACHE, Keila, SILVEIRA, Lucas, FRANCESCOLI, Gabriel et FREITAS, Thales, 2021. Description of the sound diversity of two species of tuco-tucos ( Ctenomys torquatus and Ctenomys lami ) in natural environment. 
Photo cc by Sebastián Saiter V

Ctenomys magellanicus - Tuco Tuco De Magellan

Pipistrelle bats using the farmhouse as a nursery.  Positioned a microphone the other side of the wall to record their chattering and scrabbling.  

Recorded September 2014 with 2 x DPA4060s to SD744T.
Extract from several nights of recording.

Pipistrelle Bats in the loft

This is, to me, the bravest LBJ (little brown job) of all. During the breeding season Meadow pipits perform what is know as ‘parachute’ display flights, in order to attract a mate. It literally gives itself away as if singing ‘i’m all yours, take me!’ (or the peregrine falcon will…). You can hear the beautiful descending notes in this recording, made on a windy day.

Species: Meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis)
Date and time of recording: 16 March 2021, 9am
Location: Aghatirourke, County Fermanagh, Ireland
Habitat: Moorland

Gear: 
Sennheiser MKH30 and MKH8060 in mid-side
Sound Devices 744t recorder

Nikon D750 Camera
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Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens
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Tamron 150-600mm Telephoto Lens
https://amzn.to/3IFMFZE

Wildlife hide tent
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Rode VideoMicro On-camera Directional Microphone
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K&F Tripod
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Meadow Pipit of Aghatirourke

From dusk to dawn with two pairs of cranes and one or two single male contenders. In this recording you will hear almost infrasound (80-200 Hz) growls and heavy panting as the males chase each other in the wetland and of course the trumpeting of cranes through the night. An amazing experience to be this close. Huddunge, Uppsala. April 9, 2024.

Mixpre 3ii + Lewitt 440 Pure in ortf

Cranes like you never heard them before!

Buy Desert Winds

AMB80 Patagonia: Desert Wind

Not much else to listen to or record this time of year when all birds are busy raising young, but the Quails are still going strong. This mono recording is from midnight today.

Sundbromark, Uppsala. June 17, 2024.
Wildtronics Parabolic dish + Mixpre 3ii

The Quail song

two man playing ritual song during the ceremony (Pūjā) with Shehnai, Tabla and Digital Tampura (raagini digital) in Ekambareswarar Temple, Kanchipuram

Ekambareswarar Temple, Kanchipuram

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AMB82 Nature Roomtones: Deserts 3

Recording 4222.	Wetland Night (1).	12th May ’24 – 10.51pm.		10m05.	Near School Garden.		440’s & the MixPre3.  At nineteen seconds the distant Common Cranes begin to call.  They stop at 3m27.  Species present are Sedge Warbler, Common Snipe, Corncrake and Spotted Crake, Bittern, Common Sandpiper and Lapwing.  At around 6m35 some birds fly over.  Rated 9.
Sunday the 12th of May 2024. Woke up a bit late, around 3.45am or so, got ready as quickly as I could and went first to the garden and placed the NT4 (Omni capsules) at the old house at the end of the Nature School garden and pointing up at the big trees.  Made my way to the piece of forest where I had been recording the evening chorus along the new road, set up the 8020’s going into the MixPre, 56db gain, I had this recorder going by 4.30am.  Then onto the meadow at the end of the new road, had it recording by 4.47am.  I missed a little of the start but there was no way to always wake up on time, didn’t know why the phone alarm would not work, it was probably only something simple.  The weather was beautiful and calm, quite cold at only 3C, there was a slight frost on the grass when going back to the house.  Nothing to do while the systems record, only stand there keeping away from the mics but keeping watch, being aware of a rogue shower for instance, and maybe if anyone was around, unlikely but good to keep a casual watch.  Back at the house I soon put the recorder out again, this time outside the door (MixPre & 8020’s) as the sounds in the garden were very nice.  Slept for a lot of the morning, later before lunch I got a text from Andrus saying he was around for a lot of the morning but he knew I might be sleeping.  I would not have minded if he knocked on the door, however we met up and talked for quite a while.   The British people staying at the other house were very good and appeared at the door with the bread and something else I wanted from the shop.  After tea I went to the piece of forest along the new road to record the evening chorus.  Had all three recorders out, the MixPre3 with the MKH8020’s, a gain of 65db.  The NT4 and the X8 and finally the Warm Audio 84’s with the DR100.  I wanted to capture the chink-chink calls at dusk of the Blackbird.  Oddly they didn’t do much of it that evening and the bit that I got was mainly distorted.  Back at the house I noticed that the sounds coming from the opposite side of the river were interesting so I set up the Lewitts and the MixPre and let it record for a while, the first minutes are best, this is where the very distant Common Cranes trumpet, the sound reverberating around the area, taking a few seconds to die away completely.

Wetland Night (1) - 12th May 2024 at 10.51pm - Palupohja

Early morning and a Common Crane is slowly walking in a wet mire, almost talking to itself.

Huddunge, Uppland. April 2, 2025.
Zoom F3 + Clippy EM272

Crane chatting

thousands of geese & ducks take off from lake

real cannon on a traditional Hungarian Carnival

Busó Cannon

a couple of days in the Swedes Forest.

SoundDevices 788T
Sennheiser 8020 (ORTF)
(unprocessed raw materials)

Swedish Forest

Field sound recordist and archivist of vanishing sounds in natural Iandscapes. Highly commended in the Sound of the Year Awards 2024 - Best Natural Sound.

Cranes like you never heard them before!

Bo Söderström