The Sounds of Earth

The little troll is actually a bird. The Great Snipe.
The Greate Snipe arrives to nortern Sweden from eastern Africa in May. In June and Around midsummer the Great Snipe has an very special display for gaining the best tussock that is won by the best player.
During autumn the Greate Snipe migrates back to Africa in an extraordinary speed and can travel as far as around 7000 kilometers in three and half days.

Midsummer night's tiny trolls

Dropped two contact mics at the surface of an anthill

Recorded with JrF contact mics in Serrinha do Alambari, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil in Sound devices Mixpre-6 96kHz 24 bits

Ants swarming

Hello, this ambient sound of city traffic (cars, bus and truck drives by) was recorded 2022. You can use the recording for free, also for commercial purposes. If you wish you can link my YouTube or Soundcloud profile. But it is not mandatory. 

Soundtrack on YouTube: https://youtu.be/liqaAEZxVdA

Sound recorded by: Andriy Prokopyshyn
URL Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/andriy-prokopyshyn 
URL YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnyEo4Ise8p8EgIhdkREcJA
Foto: Photo by Teddy Österblom on Unsplash
Icons:  Thumbnail has been designed using resources from Flaticon.com

City traffic ambient sounds. Cars, bus and truck drives by. Royalty free ambient sounds.

The focal point in these elided consecutive excerpts from a continuous dawn recording is the dawn duet and solo singing of the Kangaroo Island subspecies (lashmari) of the Western Whipbird (Psophodes nigrogularis), also known as the White-bellied Whipbird (Psophodes leucogaster). Background species include: Crescent Honeyeater, Galah, Grey Shrike-thrush, Kangaroo Island subspecies (KI) Crimson Rosella, KI Grey Currawong, KI Superb Fairy-wren, among others. The recording was made near the edge of a waterfall that was completely dry, overlooking a deep valley winding down to the ocean just over a kilometre away.

When listening to this recording (and viewing the accompanying track photograph taken at the location), it is important to embrace in mind that one is listening to an ecosystem soundscape recorded at dawn only five years after untypically catastrophic bushfires (the 'Black Summer' bushfires of 2019-2020) - an untypicality that is scientifically attributable to anthropically-caused climate change. This an ecosystem still in early stages of a struggling recovery (exacerbated by the continuation of the drought that initially catalysed the 'Black Summer' bushfires), and the focal birds that one is listening to were listed, in 2021, according to the IUCN Red List classification, as 'Endangered'. The following is a quotation from the Australian government environmental report that advised this classification:

"The main factor that made the subspecies eligible for listing in the Endangered category was the severe (>50%) reduction in population size in the previous 10 years. This major reduction in population was caused by the largest recorded wildfire on Kangaroo Island that burned for six weeks from late December 2019 to early February 2020. The subspecies’ extent of occurrence is estimated at 5,300 km2 (stable trend), and the area of occupancy is estimated to be 540 km2 (contracted). The population is estimated to have declined to 1,000 mature individuals in the wild due to the Kangaroo Island 2019/2020 bushfires, however this decline is probably not continuing. An analysis by a team from the National Environmental Science Program Threatened Species Recovery Hub shows that a large proportion of the range of Kangaroo Island Western Whipbird was affected by these fires: 51% was burnt in high to very high severity fire, and a further 11% was burnt in low to moderate severity fire. A structured expert elicitation process was used to estimate the proportional population change for this species from pre-fire levels to immediately after the fire and then out to three generations/10 years after the fire, when exposed to fires of varying severity. These results, combined with the spatial analyses of fire overlap, suggest that one year after the fire, the species has experienced an overall decline of 44% from pre-fire levels, but that the decline could be as large as 62% (bound of 80% confidence limits). After 10 years, the estimate for the overall population decline relative to the pre-fire population is predicted to be 33%, but potentially as much as 58% (bound of 80% confidence limit). For comparison, experts also estimated the population change over time in the absence of fire; by 10 years, the overall population of Kangaroo Island Western Whipbird after the fire was estimated to be 30% lower than it would have been, had the 2019/2020 fire not occurred."

Reference: https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/81024-conservation-advice-14122021.pdf

2025.04.08 White-bellied Whipbird. Dawn Songs. Kangaroo Island. Autumn.

This train is named 'Indian Pacific' because it travels between two oceans across the entire Australian continent, from Perth on the Indian Ocean to Sydney on the South Pacific Ocean: a one-way journey of 4,352 kilometres (2,704 miles).

I've made many recordings of it over the years, and this is the best one so far, nearest to what I've been striving to capture. Recorded with a pair of Lewitt LCT 640 TSs in mid-side array, with the mid microphone set to Wide Cardioid.

This is a 48 kHz 16 bit version of the original 96 kHz 32 bit float recording.

2025.05.15 Indian Pacific. Shunting.

L'Incaspize petit deuil (Rhopospina fruticeti). J'ai été fasciné d'entendre cet oiseau lors de mon voyage en Patagonie accompagné de Fernand Deroussen en octobre 2023. Il m'évoquait le son de ces vieux téléphones à cadran qu'il fallait tourner ! (que les moins de... 40 ans ne peuvent pas connaître 😉). L'incaspize est une sorte de pinson. Son nom vient d'ailleurs d'Inca, qui désigne une civilisation ancienne du Pérou et du grec « spiza », le pinson. Le nom « deuil » fait référence au plumage largement noir, gris et blanc de cette espèce, comme en deuil. Cela s'applique au mâle, qui est noir grisâtre et strié sur le dessus, et noirâtre sur la face et la poitrine. Son chant peut rappeler celui de plusieurs ictérides nichant dans les marais d'Amérique du Nord. Il existe des variations de son chant selon son aire de répartition. Les chants du centre du Chili sont plus aigus et plus bourdonnants que ceux du nord du Chili, du nord-ouest de l'Argentine, du Pérou et de la Bolivie. Les chants du Pérou et du nord du Chili sont dépourvus de « chip » d'introduction. Cela se caractérise par la présence de plusieurs sous-espèces selon l'aire de répartition de l'espèce :

- Rhopospina fruticeti fruticeti : Andes du sud-ouest de la Bolivie jusqu'au sud du Chili et au sud de l'Argentine
- Rhopospina fruticeti peruviana : Andes du nord du Pérou jusqu'en Bolivie (La Paz et Cochabamba)  
- Rhopospina fruticeti coracina : Andes de Bolivie (ouest d'Oruro et Potosí)

La sous-espèce enregistrée ici est la sous-espèce nominale Rhopospina fruticeti fruticeti.

L'espèce a été formellement décrite pour la première fois en 1883 par le naturaliste allemand Heinrich von Kittlitz, et les études de ses vocalisations ont contribué à sa reclassification taxonomique récente. Une étude phylogénétique moléculaire publiée en 2014 a conduit à sa réaffectation du genre Phrygilus au genre Rhopospina, en partie basée sur ses caractéristiques vocales uniques. Comme quoi il est utile d'enregistrer partout et documenter ses enregistrements ! 😊

Incaspize petit deuil - Rhopospina fruticeti fruticeti - Mourning Sierra Finch 
Enregistré à Péninsule Valdés en Argentine le 31/10/2023 avec micro BP4025 et zoom F3.
Crédit photo : cc by sa 3.0 Josue Hermoza

Sources : Noms français des oiseaux du monde – dictionnaire historique – 2025
Birds of the World - Mourning Sierra Finch Rhopospina fruticeti - Sounds and Vocal Behavior (2024)
Avibase – la base ornithologique mondiale - Incaspize petit-deuil (2025). 
Molecular Phylogenetic Study of Thraupidae Family (2014)

Incaspize petit deuil - Rhopospina fruticeti - peninsule valdes Argentine

Overlooking a grassy meadow on an island in Dore Lake, a Song Sparrow and a White-throated Sparrow sing back and forth at dawn, Saskatchewan, Canada. Recorded May 2025 with “tree ears” AB stereo pair UrsiPro omnis and Zoom F3 in 32 bit float

Dawn Sparrows In Meadow

Voici un florilège d'enregistrements fait lors des rencontres des audio-naturalistes francophones à Jarnages. En bord d'étang des Landes, une héronnière fort bruyante a capté notre attention. La nuit, un concert de grenouilles vertes a bercé les noctambules. De beaux moments de partage ont accompagné ces journées natures.

Sonatura 2025

Aujourd'hui, je vous accompagne sur Ornoya Island dans le grand nord norvégien, une île totalement protégée en face de la ville de Vardo, point de départ du bateau qui m'amène en vingt minutes dans le monde incroyable des oiseaux de mer nichant en falaises. Je ne suis pas encore débarqué que déjà autour de moi des milliers de Guillemots de Troïl, de petits pingouins et Macareux moines se baignent sur une mer calme et argentée. Une fois sur l'île la falaise qui se dresse est à l'abri des vents d'Est . C'est un nouveau spectacle époustouflant. Ici nichent des milliers d'alcidae, famille regroupant les espèces citées, des Cormorans huppés et quelques Mouettes tridactyles. Un ravissement pour tous photographes mais aussi pour mes microphones.

VSN020_NORVEGE_Ornoya Island_F Deroussen

Aujourd'hui, je vous accompagne dans le parc national Henri Pittier au Venezuela à 80km au nord de Caracas. Un lieu privilégié pour l'observation des oiseaux tropicaux mais malheureusement parcouru par une route nationale bien trop fréquentée pour un audio-naturaliste. Je vais y passer deux nuit en compagnie de l'ami Philippe un naturaliste passionné de papillons. Nous logeons au cœur de la forêt dans une ancienne station d'étude qui semble à l'abandon et envahie de lianes. Le soir, pluvieux et frais donne à l'endroit un aspect sinistre d'abandon. Le matin, heureusement les oiseaux nombreux s'éveillent et toute la matinée c'est le défilé.

VSN021_VENEZUELA_PN Henri Pittier_F Deroussen

A favourite sound in the coniferous forest clearings during summer - the Nightjar. It has become more common during the last 20 years and you can now its song from mid-May to end of July.

Svinasjön, Uppland. July 10, 2025.
Zoom F3 + Clippy EM272 as tree ears

Nightjar singing and flapping

Horse running sound

Ngamba Island is a Chimpanzee Sanctuary, located in Lake Victoria. Founded in 1998, today it is home to 48 orphaned rescued chimpanzees providing welfare and a safe haven to them in a near wild environment.

During a visit to the sanctuary to see how the conservation work is done, I recorded the chimps as they were being fed.

Photo courtesy of Dee Marshall (http://www.beneaththeskies.com/)

Chimpanzee Sanctuary - Ngamba Island, Uganda

This is a montage of short sound effect samples of the complete clips available in the Steam Train Jet Pack from Airborne Sound, here:
https://www.airbornesound.com/downloads/steam-train-sound-effects/
It is a collection of 39 96 kHz, 24−bit WAV files, professionally recorded and mastered with descriptive metadata.

Steam Train Sound Effects

Buy Sound Library

Steam Train Sound Effects Library Audio Preview Montage

I recorded some audio of Mia while i was getting her ready for bed. Cut out the gaps and you have some full on baby noises!

Mia Soundtrack

Tractor greeting card with sound by Charles Sainsbury-Plaice
Available at: http://www.cspphoto.co.uk/store/index.php/buy-online/sound-cards/tractor-sound-card.html

Tractor Greeting Card with Sound

Sound recordist Colin Hunter 
Founder of the World Sounds project

Chimpanzee Sanctuary - Ngamba Island, Uganda

World-Sounds.org

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