Hearing trees breaking apart under the weight of accumulating ice was terrifying and heartbreaking. Each reverberating crack and boom signaled a tree reaching the limits of its endurance, and collapsing in a shower of shattering ice. The third day finally broke sunny and warm. Sunlight glittered through a landscape of infinite icy prisms.  Here is what it sounded like.

Ice Storm 1998

There were nineteen of them, swirling over the marsh on raked wings before settling into a salt panne to load up on insects an other marshy invertebrates. Then they would lift again and circle the perimeter of the marsh, where the forested slopes make a perfect echo chamber for their ringing calls. There are black duck and spotted sandpipers here too.

Yellowlegs

I found this stunning bird in southern Arizona's Madera Canyon. This is the northern extent of their range, but on a windy morning high up in the canyon in the Ponderosa pines, I heard it. See if you think the bird's call  lives up to its elegant name and plumage. 

Elegant Trogon - Madera Canyon

Which of these animals is more beautiful? The handsome Elegant Trogon, a masterpiece in red, green and white plumage, or the lumpy mottled brown American Toad? 
Seeing only their pictures, you may be forgiven for reaching one conclusion: the bird. But beauty isn’t strictly in the eye of the beholder. Close your eyes, and listen: the trogon’s squawking voice hardly evokes elegance, while the toad’s soft, whirring call on a spring night will soothe your soul.

American Toads

Friends that live on the shore are used to hearing the lake’s vocal adjustments as daytime temperatures warm up or cool down. To an untrained observer, walking on the ice can be pretty unnerving. But to look down into the ice, clear and green and flecked with tiny bubbles, was like viewing a 3D image of interstellar space. And the sound was the audio equivalent of a light show. Here’s what it sounded like.

Sebago Lake Ice

Signs of hibernation’s end abound: the acrid scent of skunk hanging the night air, raccoons testing the lid to the compost bin. And this red fox, out on dawn patrol marking his territory.

Fox Bark

High up the canyon wall above Utah's Green River, a Canyon Wren welcomes the day with it's fluid, descending trill. Cliff swallows chatter and soar overhead. A great start to the day.

Green River Canyon Wren

A desert dawn chorus recorded in a cottonwood grove by the Yampa River, the last un-dammed tributary in the Colorado River basin. The rush of the river is amplified by the 800' cliff overhead that follows the arc of the river to form a giant amphitheater.

Yampa River Dawn Chorus

It isn't often you hear a whippoorwill anymore, so it was exciting – at first. See if you can last through the whole clip.

Whippoorwill

Summer nights used to be full of the sound of whippoorwills. I never thought I would miss their tiresome call, until I heard it again. Still, it is a challenge to listen to the end of a half-minute track.

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