Mammals

Listen to calls and songs of birds during a late spring snowstorm on May 16, 2021.

East Troublesome Fire Burn Site 1. West side of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Recordings were collected for research purposes with written permission and permits from the park.

Bird Song in Snowfall -- Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, U.S.A.

Costa Rica's rainforests are lively and active at night, even if it might not seem like it. A night walk in the jungle will reveal countless creatures going about their business - hunting or trying to avoid hunters, looking for food and sometimes searching for a mate. Longer version at https://youtu.be/hl7LaTWnDYA

Night in the jungles of Costa Rica

How to FLIRT

The clear "peep" notes in the beginning of the track are the Swainson's Thrush nocturnal call notes and then the bird starts singing its flutey, upward spiraling song. This was recorded on a Songmeter on the lands of the Poplar River First Nation in the Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site. Find out more here:  https://pimaki.ca/

Swainson's Thrush Nocturnal Call Notes In Song - Poplar River Manitoba - S4A01761 20160608 050002

I recorded bugling elk in Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado on September 26, 2016. I was surrounded by close to 40 photographers and observers, which you can clearly hear throughout the recording. I thought about removing their noise from the recording to create a more pure sound of wilderness, but I decided against it for one simple reason. It's getting harder and harder to find wildnerness and to find areas free from human noise. Moraine Park is certainly no different. To continue to represent wilderness as free of human noise fails to illuminate the issue of noise pollution. So here is the recording as it existed in the field. Enjoy!

Recorded using a Sound Devices 722 digital audio recorder and two Audio-Technica 4022 omnidirectional microphones placed in a binaural setup.

Bugling Elk--Rocky Mountain National Park

This recording was made on July 15, 2015 in Mesa Verde National Park using a Roland R05 digital audio recorder and an omnidirectional microphone. This setup was part of a standard acoustical monitoring project by the Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division of the National Park Service.

A pair of coyotes go on barking and yipping for nearly three hours. About 2 hours into the recording, the first bird song of the day is heard as the dawn chorus joins the coyotes. This recording site was in a canyon in a wilderness area of the park. The walls of the canyon cause the calls of the coyotes to really echoes throughout the area.

Wear headphones for the best listening experience. 

Enjoy!

Coyotes and Dawn Chorus -- Mesa Verde National Park

This recording was made on January 10, 2018 at around 645am along the Slough Creek Campground road in Yellowstone National Park using a Sound Devices 722 digital audio recorder and two Audio Technica AT4022 omnidirectional microphones placed in a homemade binaural housing.

This pack of coyotes snuck up on me while I was listening to a pack of wolves howl. After the wolves stopped howling the first time, everything went silent. Gradually, I could hear the footprints of several animals running through the snow around me. Because it was still dark, I never saw them, even though they got to within 30-40 ft of where I was seated. Needless to say, they put on quite a show. Several minutes afterwards, the wolves resumed howling. Quite a morning for canids!

For the best listening experience, wear headphones!

Enjoy!

Recordings were made under permits issued by the park and for the purpose of science and education.

Coyotes Wake Up in Yellowstone

This recording was made on January 10, 2018 at around 700am along the Slough Creek Campground road in Yellowstone National Park using a Sound Devices 722 digital audio recorder and two Audio Technica AT4022 omnidirectional microphones placed in a homemade binaural housing.

The Junction Butte pack surprised me as I was hiking along the Slough Creek Campround road before dawn. I instantly fell to the ground and began recording. This pack of 8-9 members was about 300-400 yards away, yet their howls were very clear and eerie as they traveled along the winter landscape. Also in the recording, you can hear the calls of Black-Billed Magpies rousing from their roosts and the intermittent sloshing of Slough Creek as the wind bends the sounds across the valley.

Wear headphones for the best listening experience.

Enjoy!

Wolves Howling at Dawn in Yellowstone National Park

This recording is a mixture of three different recordings I've made across the American West. The primary part of this recording comes from Yellowstone National Park on May 20, 2018 and features the sound of a bull bison wading across a stream and feeding on grass. This was recorded using a Sound Devices 722 digital audio recorder and a Telinga parabolic dish system. The background sounds of the river and thunderstorm come from Rocky Mountain National Park. These were recorded in 2017 using a Sound Devices 722 digital audio recorder and two Audio Technica AT4022 microphones placed in a homemade binaural housing.

Wear headphones for the best listening experience.

Enjoy!

Recordings were made under permits issued by the park and for the purpose of science and education.

Photo Credit: Mr. Carlos Linares

Bison Feeding During Thunderstorm -- Yellowstone National Park

This recording was made in Rocky Mountain National Park on October 5, 2018 at around 8pm using a Sound Devices 722 digital audio recorder and two Audio Technica AT4022 omnidirectional microphones placed in a homemade binaural housing. You can hear multiple bull elk bugling, as well as a Great Horned Owl and Coyotes. Unfortunately, you can also hear distant traffic and generator at a nearby campground.

Wear headphones for the best listening experience.

Enjoy!

Recordings were made under permits issued by the park and for the purpose of science and education. To hear more recordings from the park, visit the Rocky Mountain National Park sound library at https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/photosmultimedia/soundlibrary.htm

Elk Rut and Rain Shower -- Rocky Mountain National Park

This is a Whip-poor-will singing from quite close to the microphone and one or more Whip-poor-will's in the background as well. Recorded using a Songmeter SM4 deployed along the Poplar River in Manitoba in the territory of the Poplar River First Nation. This is an area protected by the Poplar River First Nation and is part of the Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site. You can find out more about Pimachiowin Aki here: https://pimaki.ca/

Wonderful Whip-Poor-Will Sequence -Poplar River-Manitoba -Jul1-2018-S4A01732 20180701 224802

It's an overcast morning at a clearing deep in the Harenna forest. Wildlife has been up for hours and the dawn chorus is in full swing. Gigantic hornbills fly around, their harsh feathers sounding like miniature aircraft when gliding. 

Recorded in the beautiful Harenna Forest just south of Bale Mountains National Park in Ethiopia. Technical details: Sony PCM D10 and Lom MikroUsi microphones left out for 48 hours as drop rig. Longer version on my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/rtVT5KKViN4

Ethiopian Cloud Forest - Dawn Chorus With Hornbills And Colobus Monkeys

This is my favorite recording from my 5 day camping trip on the Chattooga River in South Carolina. 

I woke up around 5am this morning to the first bird call of the dawn chorus. I quickly and quietly got out of my sleeping bag and setup my Sony D100 on a tripod and began recording. 

This recording is the highlight from a longer, 60 minute recording. I love the natural reverb effect from the birds calling across the open river. 

Thank you for taking the time to read and listen ☺

Check out my website for more: www.acousticnature.com

Dawn Chorus on a River | Sony D100 Field Recording

Summer 2020 Ambient Field Recordings done during the age of continued COVID-19 pandemic social distancing and isolation. In and around Laramie, Wyoming, U.S.A.

Equipment: Zoom H4n Pro with LOM mikroUsi microphones.

Snowy Range Mountain Creek On North Fork Trail

This is one of my favorite recordings from my recent camping trip on the Chattooga River.

I went down to the edge of the river during dusk and setup my Sony D100 on a tripod. I then went back to camp, ate dinner and relaxed as I listened to the transition of day to night. 

My favorite part of this recording are all the jumping and splashing fish. I also enjoy the closeup calls of bull frogs and green frogs. 

Thank you for listening ♫

Please checkout my website at www.acousticnature.com to read my articles about field recording :)

Dusk on the Chattooga | Jumping Fish, Frogs & Birds [Sony D100]

A recording from central New York State (North America)of thousands of night migrating birds on the night of September 11-12, 2020. The most common calls are from 12+ species of wood warblers, Rose-breasted Grosbeak & Swainson's Thrush -  most all headed to Caribbean Islands, southern Mexico or Central & South America for the winter. The 6+ hour recording began at 9:45pm EDT. To hear the intricacies, crank the volume. WARNING FOR HEADPHONE LISTENERS: There are a few instances of very loud bird calls (ex. flock of Green Herons passing over at 0:01:45 - one minute 45 seconds into recording. Adjust your headphone listening level on this section before proceeding).

I made this recording using an "Old Bird 21c" microphone mounted on a 2.5 meter wood tower in the middle of a hay field. It contains the densest dark terrain (no artificial light), non-coastal, avian nocturnal flight call rate I have documented in 30+ years of monitoring such calls in North America. The original audio submitted to SoundCloud was a mono wav file, 22050 sampling rate, 16 bit resolution.

The artwork is by Cheryl Chalmers (c) 2011, and depicts her kids listening to night migrating birds through a roof-mounted "flowerpot"  microphone in Trumansburg, NY.

Special thanks to Cathy & Frank Darrow for hosting the recording station in their Danby, NY hayfield, and to Herb Susmann of Nature Sound Electronics for superb S/N in the microphone electronics.

Big Migration Night

Travel over 2,000 miles during spring bird migration 2019 with project lead Dr. Jacob Job and audio producer Jacqueline Van Meter to examine the mutual challenges that migratory birds and humans face due to human activity on the planet. 'Voices of a Flyway' stimulates active, mindful listening to nature, reintroduces us to the species and places of our past, deepens our connection to the natural world, and heals our collective mindset about our place within it. 

Project lead Dr. Job is a conservationist, science communicator, natural sounds recordist, National Geographic Explorer, and bird watcher. He travels the country and world, documenting the sounds of nature in our nation's most treasured lands, building connections between people and these places, and working to advocate for their protection.

Bugling Elk--Rocky Mountain National Park

Gavia immer

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