It's half past seven in the evening. The color of the sun is turning golden but it is still hot. It is 26 degrees outside. There are no boat owners or passengers in the harbor. There is one small building in the port where a ticket seller sits despite the fact that the last ferry of the day to Piirissaare departed half an hour ago. The water of the lake sings against the ferry's landing bridge. There are swallows nesting right under the bridge and motor boats can be heard from the lake

The sound of Lake Peipsi in Laaksaare boat harbor. Field recording. Estonia June 30, 2021

Recorded at Grundskatan, Bjuröklubb, morning the 16 May 2018. A wet area with much leafy trees (alskog) near the shore of the Bothnian bay, Bottenviken. The two Woodpeckers were foraging at the trees.
Gear: two Sennheiser MKH20 in stereo on a Jecklin disc. Recording was running for about 30 min.

Frogs and White-backed Woodpecker

Haunting Red Deer rutting in the forest of Orléans

the pond and the trees beyond with quiet inside

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

30 May 2023

To get good recordings of birds you have to come close. On way of achieving this is to work with concealed microphones. It’s not easy to predict where the target bird/s will be, and I regularly fail in my attempts, but occasionally I succeed. I scouted a semi-open sandy area – a former tree seed orchard –  where I had encountered lekking Black Grouse last year, and hid a small stereo lavalier microphone overnight in the crown of an isolated small pine tree. One by one the Black Grouse males arrived in the late evening hours and immediately began displaying around the small pine tree.  

Umeå commune, Västerbotten County (63.39 N, 19.54 E)

Primo-EM172s

01_01.05

In the middle of the Black Grouse lekk

Zoom F6 + Sennheiser 8020 mono in Telinga parabolic + Sennheiser 8020 pair in Olsen wing for stereo ambience (-18 dB).

Blackbird Midsummer 230624

Tuesday the 25th of July 2023.  Got out of bed at 3.06am.  On the road at 4.03am, arrived at a place west of Kilcarra (South County Wicklow Ireland) at 4.26am.  Thought I was too early but some Swallows were twittering strongly just inside a field at a crumbling Ivy covered wall.  I decided to go into the area surrounded by ruins of farm buildings and see what was about.  Some jets flew over but eventually I got reasonably close to a Swallow that was twittering.  I could see I wasn't going to have much success there because the area had high weeds and moving about quietly and even safely was impossible, I didn't know what lumps or metal or other things might be among the weeds to trip me, I had reason to believe there might be, also the dew was wetting my feet.   Back out on the road again I walked on quietly to see what was about, then opposite a house was a Yellowhammer in song, to my surprise I got really close to him and recorded for about seven minutes, I could still hear the river that was a few kilometres away, however I was happy to at least get close to this bird.  Further on I tried for a Robin but the noise from the motorway was breaking through so I had to give up. 
On the way he  back the Yellowhammer was still there and singing I saw that he was perched on a small tree stump, he saw me and flew away, I could see that the angle I had approached him to record was just right, a few weeds and some bramble hid him from seeing me, had I approached from another angle to record he would have seen me and flown away.  That area is really good for Yellowhammers.  Nearer the car a Magpie, (perhaps there was two of them) began to cackle loudly, so I pointed the gun mic at them, they were 'only' Magpie however it was fun to have a go.  They fell silent, I moved closer, I knew the bird or birds would not move out of there without making a racket and I was right, after 2m37 (I timed it later), the bird suddenly made a loud alarm sort of call and flew away, thought the level had gone too high but what could I do, time to go home, it was getting far too noisy. 
It was a mostly clear, near calm, cool morning around 13C.  Later during processing I was glad to see that that alarm ?  call had not gone too high.  also I cut out some of the 2m37 so as not to have a long wait between calls with nothing happening.  I was glad also that some of the Yellowhammer song was usable, the distant swish noise is mostly the river at Woodenbridge.  Left for home at 5.31am, arrived back at 5.49am.  Equipment; a Sound Devices MixPre3 and a Rode NTG-8 full length gun mic.   Recording 4078.

Magpie loud alarm call - 25 July 2023 - 5.25am

The echoes of Eurasian Cranes are bouncing from forest edges in countryside landscape of Rõuge parish, Estonia. It is a distant corner of southern Estonia with only a few farmhouses in sight.
The song of skylarks is filling early morning spring air, goldfinches and a northern wheatear are vocalising nearby, looking for a suitable nesting site next to a small country house and several old oak trees. Other birds in the recording: wood pigeons, eurasian cuckoo, willow warbler, crow.

Spring morning soundscape in southern Estonia countryside

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

Spring Undergrowth

A cabinetmaker by trade.  I have been recording birds for over 40 years.  Even as a seven year old I loved to hear the sound of birds. 
I believe that birdsong is a perfect reflection of the natural environment and yet a part of the experience of the environment.  
Over the years I have made some wildlife films and videos.  For wildlife recording I have been around Ireland, Wales, Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Belize, Guyana, Brazil, Peru and Costa Rica. At the moment I have 26 albums of birdsong/nature, most of which can be found here for free download in high quality F.L.A.C. format.
  
Birdsong is Spiritual Medicine,
a Natural Treasure 
and a Companion to Silence.

Magpie loud alarm call - 25 July 2023 - 5.25am

Fintan O'Brien

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