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AMB45 Iceland: Wind

Extrait d'un nocturne à Oristano tiré du CD “Paysages Sonores de Sardaigne” édité chez Frémeaux et Associés, par Bernard Fort pour l'INDICATEUR (bernardfort.com)

NOCTURNE SARDE

Thrush Nightingale
recorded
Sikkalahti, Finland 
2am 5th June 2002

This performance is unusual in the almost continuous delivery, rather than separate strophes with intervals between.

nightingale after midnight

Utria National Park is a 54,300-hectare (210-square-mile) protected area located in the northwest of the wild Pacific coast.The Colombian Pacific  (Chocó) region, is one of the few remaining vast regions with no road infrastructure and large untouched jungle stretches. It is isolated from the rest of the country by impassable mountains with steep, muddy slopes covered in dense vegetation. The region also receives the most rainfall on the world.

Utria Dawn (earth-experience.com)

From dusk to dawn with two pairs of cranes and one or two single male contenders. In this recording you will hear almost infrasound (80-200 Hz) growls and heavy panting as the males chase each other in the wetland and of course the trumpeting of cranes through the night. An amazing experience to be this close. Huddunge, Uppsala. April 9, 2024.

Mixpre 3ii + Lewitt 440 Pure in ortf

Cranes like you never heard them before!

I got to spend December 2023 recording in several jungle locations in Costa Rica. The experience was wonderful and inspiring. Most of the trip was spent on Osa Peninsula, in lodges that bordered Parque Nacional Corcovado (Corcovado National Park). With nearly 2.5% of the world's species represented, many of them endemic, it is  recognized as one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet.

On the same morning as the previous  Midnight Chorus recording https://soundcloud.com/soundeziner/cr-fincasueno-midnightchorus, a troop of Golden Mantled Howler Monkeys greeted the Dawn and their neighbors (and the rest of the jungle) the only way they know how. Male mantled howlers have an enlarged hyoid bone, a hollow amplifying bone near their vocal cords that gives the ability to generate great "howling"  calls that can heard for kilometers.  Howling allows the monkeys to exercise territory and remain in contact  without expending energy through movement or bearing the risks of physical confrontation. As someone who likes little more than sitting in a forest listening to nature speak, I approve of this lazing behavior.

While this howling is their most well-known vocal characteristic, I'm rather fond of the popping and grunting that warms up to the howl and pads the time in between. It's relatively quiet, and is most noticeable only when near the vocalizing howler. The best description of it that I can think of is like the "vocal fry" not uncommon in many of today's pop singers. Check it out near the start of the first round of howling around 2:40 (link in the comments)

After a first round of loud howls, the group takes a break. With what is known about Mantled Howler activity, they're likely sleeping, or maybe eating. After 20-is minutes, they pick up again for a brief session before settling back down. It's possible they've been moving during this time as they're quieter during this round. Finally, just before Sunrise at 05:38 in the morning, they pick up again, slowly building and then tapering off after nearly 30 minutes of vocal exercising.

After speaking with other recordists, I know I am far from alone as someone who loves their sound, but I I may be one of the few that enjoys waking up to their calls. Every morning I heard this in the distance or nearby was a morning I walked out to breakfast with a big silly grin on my face.

Another voice that has become a personal favorite is the Yellow-throated Toucan, with their rhythmic, bouncing song that seems to carry on forever. There is at least one singing for most of this recording, but you can get your first good listen behind the Howlers at 53:27 or skip ahead to 1:06:02 to hear two singing at each other.

Hummingbirds are abundant, and you'll hear their buzzing wings fly by and around the microphones numerous times. Also coming and going are raucous and noisy Scarlet Macaws and Red-lored Parrots, a lone Red-eyed Tree Frog, a visiting Little Tinamou, and more. 

I'll point out a few voices along the way in the comments, but I'm out of my depth when it comes to identifying neotropical birds, so I'll largely let the ecosystem speak for itself. Feel free to poke around with links in the comments to scoot around the recording, or just let it play out over your morning coffee like I do.

Feel like seeing some fancy colors? I've been playing at visualizing soundscapes lately. Check out the video for this recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/duxU2INkyXI?si=xhIrgiHiOSOk922l

AMNS Costa Rica 01

Golden Mantled Howlers at Dawn

One of the best recordings I have made of Lynx. In this recording you can first hear the Lynx calling in the distance, then after a while closer.
Uppsala, May 4, 2024.

Lewitt 440 Pure + Mixpre 3ii

A male Lynx calling for mates

Recoded mainly for the snipe, but featuring many other species including:
River Warbler,
Sedge Warbler,
Corn Crake,
Bittern, 
Thrush Nightingale,
Bluethroat
+ Probably an Otter...

Common Snipe + more

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AMB80 Patagonia: Desert Wind

Ariant, Mallorca Nocturnal Sound Scape - 16/05/24 @ 23:35

The second dawn of winter at Ngarkat Conservation Park, from before first light till after sunrise. (Please set your volume to a moderate level for listening: the track begins with silence.)

Recorded respectfully on the land of the Ngargad (Ngarket) people.

MKH 8020s AB 63 cm > F3. Unattended overnight recording. This is the first hour of a four-hour first light to early morning recording. (The previous version of this track was replaced with a new version on 18/10/2025.)

Track image: Photo on location by HB.

2024.06.02 Ngarkat Dawn. Early Winter.

Twilight of the first day of winter at Ngarkat Conservation Park. Listening to a cricket as the evening wind gradually subsides and falls still, and remains still throughout the night, until well after dawn.

Recorded respectfully on the land of the Ngargad (Ngarket) people.

MKH 8060s into MixPre-6 II.

Track image: Photo on location by HB.

2024.06.01 Ngarkat Dusk. Cricket Meditation. Early Winter.

Discussion sur les chants d'oiseaux à l'Etang des Landes avec Fernand Deroussen, audio-naturaliste.

Etang des Landes-Fernand Deroussen

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AMB82 Nature Roomtones: Deserts 3

Recording 4222.	Wetland Night (1).	12th May ’24 – 10.51pm.		10m05.	Near School Garden.		440’s & the MixPre3.  At nineteen seconds the distant Common Cranes begin to call.  They stop at 3m27.  Species present are Sedge Warbler, Common Snipe, Corncrake and Spotted Crake, Bittern, Common Sandpiper and Lapwing.  At around 6m35 some birds fly over.  Rated 9.
Sunday the 12th of May 2024. Woke up a bit late, around 3.45am or so, got ready as quickly as I could and went first to the garden and placed the NT4 (Omni capsules) at the old house at the end of the Nature School garden and pointing up at the big trees.  Made my way to the piece of forest where I had been recording the evening chorus along the new road, set up the 8020’s going into the MixPre, 56db gain, I had this recorder going by 4.30am.  Then onto the meadow at the end of the new road, had it recording by 4.47am.  I missed a little of the start but there was no way to always wake up on time, didn’t know why the phone alarm would not work, it was probably only something simple.  The weather was beautiful and calm, quite cold at only 3C, there was a slight frost on the grass when going back to the house.  Nothing to do while the systems record, only stand there keeping away from the mics but keeping watch, being aware of a rogue shower for instance, and maybe if anyone was around, unlikely but good to keep a casual watch.  Back at the house I soon put the recorder out again, this time outside the door (MixPre & 8020’s) as the sounds in the garden were very nice.  Slept for a lot of the morning, later before lunch I got a text from Andrus saying he was around for a lot of the morning but he knew I might be sleeping.  I would not have minded if he knocked on the door, however we met up and talked for quite a while.   The British people staying at the other house were very good and appeared at the door with the bread and something else I wanted from the shop.  After tea I went to the piece of forest along the new road to record the evening chorus.  Had all three recorders out, the MixPre3 with the MKH8020’s, a gain of 65db.  The NT4 and the X8 and finally the Warm Audio 84’s with the DR100.  I wanted to capture the chink-chink calls at dusk of the Blackbird.  Oddly they didn’t do much of it that evening and the bit that I got was mainly distorted.  Back at the house I noticed that the sounds coming from the opposite side of the river were interesting so I set up the Lewitts and the MixPre and let it record for a while, the first minutes are best, this is where the very distant Common Cranes trumpet, the sound reverberating around the area, taking a few seconds to die away completely.

Wetland Night (1) - 12th May 2024 at 10.51pm - Palupohja

An excerpt from dawn (from an unattended longer recording running from late afternoon to early morning) featuring a Grey Shrike-thrush who flew in close to the microphone rig, assuming various singing positions in relation to the microphones. The first-heard singing in this segment is that of a more distant Crested Bellbird, which continues throughout; the nearby Grey Shrike-thrush begins singing from 00:47.

This recording was made with a microphone rig comprising four supercardioid microphones in an IRT Cross /double NOS array. This is the raw original recording (all four tracks), without further gain, EQ, processing, or editing.

Recorded respectfully and mindfully on the land of the Meru and Danggali peoples.

Track photo credit: Grey Shrike-thrush photographed by David Jenkins (2019). (Photo source: https://birdsaspoetry.com/2019/06/22/saaturday-evening-post-37-rich-songster/)

2024.08.11 Grey Shrike-thrush, with Crested Bellbird. Dawn. Winter's End.

An excerpt from dawn (from an unattended longer recording running from late afternoon to early morning) featuring Gilbert's Whistler, singing with two distinctive kinds of calls, with some variations of each: characteristic 'chopping' calls, and melodic calls (in phrases comprising between one to four repetitions/transpositions of a melodic motif).

Other bird species heard include the Australian Magpie, Common Bronzewing, Crested Bellbird, Grey Butcherbird, Grey Shrike-thrush, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Spotted Pardalote, Striated Pardalote, White-browed Babbler. Of mammals, a kangaroo barking and grunting, and what is most probably a feral goat bleating, can sometimes be heard in the distance.

This recording was made with a microphone rig comprising four supercardioid microphones in an IRT Cross /double NOS array. This is the  original recording (all four tracks), with only slight EQ applied (low cut of 6 dB/octave below 50 Hz, and a gentle bell curve with peak of +2 dB at 1900 Hz). Two passages from the one recording have been joined together but are otherwise unedited.

Recorded respectfully and mindfully on the land of the Meru and Danggali peoples.

Track image credit: Gilbert's Whistler, © Gunther Frensch (2022), https://birdlifephotography.org.au. Used with the kind permission of the photographer.

2024.08.11 Gilbert's Whistler at Dawn. Winter's End.

A long, unedited excerpt from the dawn section of an unattended overnight recording, featuring Crested Bellbirds performing a series of transpositions of their distinctive but (rhythmically and tonally) variable Bellbird song pattern. (At 20:10 one of them seems to push itself to the highest point of its vocal range.)

The recording was made with a microphone rig comprising four supercardioid microphones in an IRT Cross / double NOS array, in open Mallee country.

In this first stereo mixdown of the four isolated tracks of the fourfold array, because of the original stereo perspective, there appears to be only one main (near) vocalist (not counting those Bellbirds that are obviously much farther away). However, while later experimenting with other stereo perspectives made possible by the four tracks, it became clear that, in fact, more than one main (near) Bellbird vocalist was involved. For a different stereo perspective that reveals this differentiation: https://earth.fm/recordings/winter-dawn-in-mallee-country-with-crested-bellbirds/.)

Recorded respectfully and mindfully on the land of the Meru and Danggali peoples.

Track image credit: Male Crested Bellbird photographed by Indra Bone (South Australia, 2019). Source: https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/photos/43977723. (CC BY-NC). Below the photograph is a spectrogram of the recording.

Your 2024 Playback

Jean-pierre Simon