A single Eurasian Blackcap sings from up in the trees close to a trickling stream. Recorded on the outskirts of Salernes in the Var, southern France

03.08.2023
Zoom F3 + 2 x DPA 4060s

Photo courtesy of hedera.baltica (Creative Commons)

Eurasian Blackcap - Salernes, Var, France

I was lucky to visit Xinjiang back in 2011. This recording is from Tianchi Lake, situated at an altitude of 1900m above sea level. It is an alpine glacial lake surrounded by montane forests. It is also a major national tourist attraction, one of the AAAAA (5A) areas area of outstanding beauty designated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It’s essentially an area prepared for mass tourism, which in china means big numbers.

However, a short walk up the forested slopes and away from the main visitor centres there is tranquillity to be found. And that is where I recorded this summer soundscape with playful nutcrackers.

Main Species: Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) 
Background whistling: Black Kites (Milvus migrans)
Habitat: Alpine Forest
Location: Tianchi Lake, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, PRC
Time and date: 13 July 2010, 11am

Gear: (Associate links)
Fostex Fr2-LE
Rode Nt4 https://amzn.to/4bcROVi 
Nikon D40 https://amzn.to/4dedVMC

Nutcrackers of Tianchi Lake

Je n’avais pas anticipé qu’il ferait aussi froid ce matin et lorsque les premiers rayons du soleil ont commencé à me réchauffer, j’aurais volontiers chanté comme un oiseau.

I hadn't expected it to be so cold this morning so when the first rays of sunshine started to warm me up, I would have happily sung like a bird.

2024 © Ph.V.

Ambiance matinale en Forêt de la Coubre

The gentle sounds of wind blowing through the tree canopy and across the forest floor. (beech, pine)

Wind Soundscape - Pine and Mixed Woodland

A Blackbird serenades the air at dawn from a coastal Gorse bush atop a rocky cliff in East Cork. His sweet melodic tune wafts through the air pairing perfectly with the fragrant piña colada aromas of the sun-yellow Gorse flowers. A Stonechat gently sings in the distance. Crashing waves below remind us of our seaside location. Spring is truly in the air and this handsome black and orange lad wants to attract a partner but also let other competitors know that he's fit, healthy, attractive and is laying a claim to this spot.

Blackbird on the Cliffs

Porto ◉ Ocean blow holes ◉

I am currently collecting material for a sound map of my home town Heidelberg, this recording was made for that purpose. In an allotment area, somewhere around 5 am, the birds wake up and join those that have been singing all night long. We can hear – as a soloist – a redstart with a background chorus of 3 Nightingales and some blackbirds, together with others. The city is still quiet – I was touched to find such a friendly dawn chorus in the middle of the still sleeping city. The recording is an excerpt from an unattended overnight recording.
Clippy EM 272 in A/B, 60 cm in Zoom F3.

Dawn chorus in town – redstart, nightingales, blackbirds….

I love the many different calls of ravens - this call is something that I hear less often and I am not sure when it is being used. Perhaps just for fun?
Högbyhatt, Uppsala. May 1, 2024.

Mixpre 3ii + Lewitt 400 pure in ortf

A raven chatting

Perhaps a galloping horse is not the best metaphor. Slightly better the ultrasound of baby heartbeats. Regardless nobody knows for sure whether the call is produced vocally or mechanically. Common Snipe produce their bleating vocalisations as air rushes past their outer tail feathers but Jack Snipes are reported to occasionally produce the galloping call from the ground, so perhaps vocally? Extremely difficult to make field recordings of. Unlike the Common Snipe displaying constantly, the Jack Snipe only made two calls during two hours and it is oh so quiet. 
Älvgärde, Uppsala. May 2, 2024

Lewitt 440 Pure in ortf + Mixpre 3ii

The sky horse - Jack Snipe!

I recorded our local Pipistrelle bats from my back garden last night - both 'common' and 'soprano' varieties.  It wasn't until I listened to my recordings this morning that I realised I had also captured the sound of a passing Noctule bat too! A real delight to hear one flying high overhead.  Bats make sounds too high in frequency for humans to hear - so the recordings need to be processed - usually in one of two ways.  Hetrondyne mixing - to shift the pitch of the sounds down in frequency to something that humans can hear. Or, 'time expansion' - basically stretching out the 'best bits' of the sounds in the time domain by slowing them right down.  Time expansion is similar to what is sometimes now called 'granular processing'. I used some of my 'music processing' equipment to process these sounds - once I had made a small library of the bat sound samples that I liked.  I turned it into a 10 minute 'symphony' using a variety of tape loops, pitch-shifting, granular synthesis, delays and a little bit of reverb.  I'm still experimenting with the mix between 'light touch' processing of my field sound recordings and something a bit more 'musical' - You might hear a hint of  a I–V–vi–IV chord progression of the Noctule towards the end of this symphony!  Recorded using an an Echo Touch Pro 2 microphone at 384 kHz (samples per second).  Equipment used for sound processing included a Chase Bliss Habit and Mood MK II, together with a Hologram Electronics Microcosm looper 'effects pedal'. Some reverb was added via both the Mood and Microcosm. No DAW was used - I mixed it all 'live' from the clips chopped on my Koala sampler. Simples! 
Photo of a nearby tree, taken in 720nm infrared.

Bat Symphony

Cette année le temps était maussade et l’ambiance était à son image.

This year the weather was a bit gloomy, reflected in the chorus.

International Dawn Chorus Day 2024

Sound recordist Colin Hunter 
Founder of the World Sounds project

Eurasian Blackcap - Salernes, Var, France

World-Sounds.org

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