Located on the Tanneron Ridges, the Forêt Du Grand Duc covers 90 hectares and offers beautiful views over the Mediterranean Sea, the Bay of Cannes and the Lérins Islands. 

This recording was made at 6am, about 45 minutes before sunrise. We hear nightingales, robins, blue tits, blackbirds and other common woodland birds. 

Sound Devices Mix Pre 6 + 2 x Sennheiser MKH 8040s (ORTF)
20.04.2021

Dawn Chorus - Forêt Du Grand Duc, Mandelieu, France

The Forêt des Cedres (cedar forest) is one of the most unusual of the forests and green spaces of the Luberon massif, given the oriental origin of these large trees. At an altitude of 727 metres, the cedar forest was originally planted with seeds from the Algerian Middle Atlas, back in 1861.

Due to it's altitude and distance from major towns and roads, the forest is very quiet and makes for a perfect recording location. I arrived an hour before sunrise intending to record the spring dawn chorus. As I approached the entrance to the forest I heard a nightingale singing so I slowly approached, getting as close to the bird's song post without disturbing it. I setup my mics using the "tree ears" technique: spaced omnis with the tree trunk acting as a natural baffle. 

Sony PCM A10 + 2 x Lom Mikro Uši (tree ears technique)
02.05.2022

Common Nightingale - Forêt des Cèdres du Luberon, France

August 14, 2022...    forest soundscape at ~ 5 am.   Quiet, still, calm, little wind, dominated by insect sounds typical of this time of year.  Recorder & mics located on the edge of a still pool in Brown Creek, not flowing this time of year due to lack of rain in late summer here.  There actually is a very slight flow of water, which can be heard thoughout the recording.   Photo shows site of recording.  Near the beginning of the recording there are calls of an eastern screech owl.  Later, a few frogs chime in.   This night was relatively cool for August (temps in the high 60°F range).  

In the forest here, this is the the quietest time of the night, 1-2 hours before dawn.  After dawn, the cicadas will start, the wind will pick up and it won't be quiet again until late afternoon.  As night falls, the evening summer soundscape here is dominated by (very loud) katydids, crickets, other insects and sometimes frogs/toads, for hours...   continuing through most of the night until early morning quiet time. 

Recorded with Earsight mics about 50-60 cm apart into a Zoom F3 recorder.  Low frequencies were attenuated and volume was adjusted.  

Headphones recommended (as always).

Arkansas forest in late summer ~ 5 am August 14, 2022

Evening at Étang de Ravoir

On the shore of the Lac du Der at night, a talkative Red fox meets a pack of responsive Common cranes.

Recorded with Mélia Roger on November 5th 2022 around 9:30pm.

Lom Usi Pro AB in PCM M10
Drop rig excerpt.

Illustration : Grues trompettant, Robert Hainard

Cranes and Fox dialogue - Mélia Roger & Grégoire Chauvot

On Saturday, 12 November 2022, South Australia, including the whole Adelaide region, experienced an uncharacteristic extended storm of unusual intensity. Several storm fronts, arriving from the NW over St Vincent's Gulf, hit Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula. The storm has been described as "one of the strongest thunderstorms in recent memory",* causing flash flooding, wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h that tore down huge gum trees (many of which crushed houses, cars, and electricity lines), as well as flattening giant electricity pylons, leaving around a hundred thousand people without power. 

This recording, made in the Adelaide Hills (near Norton Summit), captures a sample of the first and mildest storm wavefront that day. (The recording begins at 10:30 in the morning. This abridged version selects two excerpts from the longer recording, chosen because of the poignant presence of bird calls audible between the peals of thunder. The highlighted parts of the spectrogram in the track image indicate the passages from the longer recording that were selected for this abridged version.) The microphones sheltered from the fairly light rain underneath a 'sweet pittosporum' or 'native daphne' tree (Pittosporum undulatum), native to southeastern Australia, but a 'declared plant' in South Australia ('a woody weed invading native local vegetation', due to widespread ornamental planting).

Travelling farther south immediately after this recording, I was able to intercept the next two storm wavefronts, which were far more intense. Although the storm was utterly awesome and spectacular (lightning bolts plunging into fields, exploding thunder tearing the atmosphere apart), it was impossible to find any spot from which to record the storm, because it brought with it an abundant lashing downpour of rain and wild tree-tossing winds. All the shelters in the state forests had iron rooves: the rain battering the rooves was deafening, drowning out even the peals of thunder.

In the end, I could only just sit and experience it. Which, after all, is the very best thing to do, with Nature. (Most of the time, at least. Not recommended when it gets this violent. Although I have to say that this was truly a very beautiful and awe-inspiring experience; and, personally, I'm very glad to have been out there to witness it. I'm also contemplating possible recording solutions, in case this ever happens again... Enraptured by thunderstorms as a spatial music of nature. All that I have said, here, is the simple truth.)
__________________________________________
*https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/why-the-adelaide-storm-was-so-intense/925471
https://www.sapowernetworks.com.au/data/313806/12-november-storm-update-from-sa-power-networks/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/18/australias-indigenous-people-call-for-seat-at-table-at-cop27
__________________________________________
Recorded with respect upon the land of the Kaurna people.

@Bandcamp

2022.11.12 Storm above the Hills. Late Spring. (Excerpt)

Late morning in Palupõhja village Alam-Pedja nature reserve, Estonia. Different little birds are chirping in the trees next to the village road when suddenly a black woodpecker comes and bangs his drum four and a half times. The recording was made in the late morning of April 17, 2023

Equipment used: Zoom F3 digital recorder An Azden microphone pre-amplifier/mixer Primo Microphones with EM172 capsules. Recorded 32 bit 48kHz

Black woodpecker drumming

Peaceful landscape with gentle sounds of life. Recording was made at 5 in the morning, in the place visible in the picture. 

Equipment used: Zoom F3 digital recorder with EM-172 capsules. Recorded 32-bit 48kHz

Morning in the bog. Kuresoo, Soomaa, Estonia Mai 22, 2023

Psarocolius montezuma recorded at a nesting colony, near Turrialba, Costa Rica. 5.30am 2nd March 2018. Primo 172 mics AB to SONY PCM-M10
Overall winner of 2019 Competition of Wildlife Sound Recording Society
https://simontelliott.wordpress.com/2018/03/27/some-birds-have-all-the-luck/

Montezuma Oropendola

Dawn Chorus from small Wallachian village Rusava. You can listen to quiet and fragile dawn chorus without aircraft pollution because of Covid 19.

You can hear these bird species on this recording: There are there: Tawny owl, Song Thrush, Black Bird, Eurasian collared dove, Great spotted woodpecker and many others.

www.soundscape.cz

Dawn Chorus - Fragile songs of Wallachian village Rusava

A small swell pressing water and air between the ground ice and a bigger floe. Free water still, though the weather become colder. Recorded on a beautiful day with no wind and still open sea by Loukkeennokka shore in 

http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/210128/

(Sennheiser KE4 ab50cm, MixPre 32>24, no processing, 24/48 flac)

Snoring Sea Ice - 28/1/2021 - Loukkeennokka Shore

Sound recordist Colin Hunter 
Founder of the World Sounds project

Common Nightingale - Forêt des Cèdres du Luberon, France

World-Sounds.org

Related tracks