I like windy days. It's like hearing the breath of the earth. Add the accents of the birds and it is pure music to my ears (plus in our neck of the woods, it helps to drown out the traffic noise of the highway and other local vehicles.)

Superb Lyrebird calling in the early morning, not long after dawn, in the Jamison Valley. This particular area of the Jamison Valley is on the slopes of the Narrow Neck Plateau and is covered in lush, wet sclerophyll forest, which borders a small pocket of rainforest.
Some of the birds the lyrebird mimics in this performance are: Laughing Kookaburra, Satin Bowerbird, Eastern Whipbird, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Lewin's Honeyeater, Pied Currawong, Crimson Rosella, Pilotbird, Australian King Parrot. Many of the odd sounds it makes are pure Lyrebird calls as they do have their own unique repertoire. 
In the background you can hear many Bell Miners twinkling.
November, 2014.

Superb Lyrebird In The Jamison Valley, Blue Mountains

Watching the kingfishers flying up and down the River Cam near the pumping station just up from Bottisham Lock at Waterbeach. Flashes of turquoise and orange.  Kingfisher calls throughout this recording with highlights at 5:20, 6:05, 6:50 and 7:20.  Also .....trains passing, dogs barking, fields being ploughed, ducks quacking and swans 'coughing'.

Binaural dummy-head recording.  EM172 electrets to LS-11 recorder. 24/48.  Best heard via headphones.


Waterbeach Pumping Station - Kingfishers Calling

https://vimeo.com/146601266

royal national park, australia
november, 2015

(Spring) Frog Chorus At Dusk By The South Pacific Ocean

SHELTERING FROM THE BREEZE NEXT TO KILCHOMAN CLIFFS
A ferocious breeze whips across the maritime grasslands onto the cliff-face in Kilchoman parish on Islay.  Carried on the breeze are the calls of Northern Lapwing, Red-Billed Chough, Corncrake, Wren, and Meadow Pipit. 
Recorded on the Island of Islay, the southernmost island of the Scottish Inner Hebrides in May 2012.  Open Sennheiser MKH30/50 condenser microphones in MS configuration, into an SD702 running at 48kHz-24Bits.

Sheltering from the Breeze at Kilchoman

INSECTS AND BIRDS IN THE COLOMBIAN ANDES
This long soundscape features the vibrant sound-signature of an upland forest in the northern Colombian Andes.  The woodland was alive with songs, calls, and stridulations.
I made the recording in January 2013, somewhere above the little Andean town of San Vincente.
I was armed with my customary Sennheiser MKH30/50 MS rig, into  SD702 running at 48kHz-24Bits.

Mountain Forest Soundscape towards Noon - - - Insects and Birds

ON A FULL MOON IN THE COLOMBIAN ANDES
A rather weird night soundscape with a heavy dominance by close insects, set against a repetitive avian songster.
Just behind this, one hears what sounds to me like a species of Neotropical dove, and further back still, what sound like the spirits of the dead, (although I'm sure they're not).   Also in the middle distance, the familiar calls of the Pauraque.
Captured at nightfall on 7th February 2009, using a Sennheiser 30/40 condenser pair in a reflector-rig, into an SD702 running at 48kHz-24Bits.

On a  Full Moon in the Colombian Andes

COMMON SANDPIPER (Actitis hypoleucos)
SONG IN DISPLAY FLIGHT

This sound-portrait of a Common Sandpiper on its breeding grounds reveals the insistent and highly rhythmic "sewing-machine" song, given  as the bird circles around the loch side just after midnight on the 6th June 1997.  At times, insects drone close against the windcage.

The atmospheric roar of distant breakers on the Uig Saltmarsh can be heard in the background, along with "bleats" from Snipe, and faint calls from Ringed Plover and Greenshank.

The title of the piece is the Gaelic name for this species, meaning literally "Fidler-Bird by the Loch".

Uig Saltmarsh, Timsgarry, Uig Penninsula, Isle of Lewis.

Captured with  a Sony MZ-R3 Portable MiniDisc Recorder, using a pair of Sennheiser K6ME66 short-gun electrets.   Note that this is my only Soundcloud item in which I have used electret microphones and a non-linear recorder

Fidhleirbord - An - Locha - Common Sandpiper

Around 1650 BST on a windy day in May 2016
A Skylark sings above a tremendous roar of the Atlantic winds.  The shrill calls of Palearctic Oystercatchers combine with the drones of occasional insects, the falling songs of Meadow Pipits, vocalisations from Herring Gulls, metallic twitters from Barn Swallows, and the sharp notes of Pied Wagtails.
Listening to this short soundscape is by no means a recipe for relaxation!

A Blustery Northerly Breeze Across The North Pond

Antes de ir a domir salgo al patio de casa y grabo al ruiseñor, que está dándolo todo. Se cruza brevemente con un autillo, se oyen ovejas, perros y otros ruiseñores de fondo... y con mucha suerte y atención hasta un zorro.

Sonidos de la huerta

Concierto del ruiseñor

Grabación realizada en un pequeño estanque de poca profundidad, mediante una pareja de hidrófonos. Hay invertebrados acuáticos, renacuajos de ranita meridional y no hay peces. Se escuchan sonidos muy diversos, clics aislados, series de clics de duración variable, estridulaciones, silbidos y otros sonidos. 
Mediante la escucha y la visualización de espectrogramas se detectan mas de 20 sonidos diferentes.
29/05/2020, Parc Natural Serra de Collserola, Barcelona

Recording made in a small shallow pond, using a pair of hydrophones. There are aquatic invertebrates, southern frog tadpoles and no fishes. Very diverse sounds are heard, isolated clicks, series of clicks of variable duration, stridulations, whistles and other sounds.
More than 20 different sounds are detected by listening and viewing spectrograms.
29/05/2020, Serra de Collserola Natural Park, Barcelona

Vida subacuática

A member of the UK-based Wildlife Sound Recording Society, I have been capturing Natural Soundscapes for over twenty years, in Europe, Africa, Asia, and North and South America.

Sheltering from the Breeze at Kilchoman

Ian Christopher Todd

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