One hour audio track from before and after midnight of Green Tree Frog and Pig Frog calls.  Earlier in the evening the Green Tree Frogs were calling out in chorus mode.  Pig Frogs usually exhibit more solitary back and forth calls.  Around 11 pm the chorus began to slowly subside and the Green Tree Frogs began calling individually.  The audio interaction between the two frogs makes for a relaxing and pleasant sound track, especially with the water's gentle splashing sounds.  Occasionally you will hear a Common Gallinule and Chuck Will's Widow in the background.  This audio was recorded June 3rd 2021 along the Lighthouse road in the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge with a Sony PCM recorder, LOM MikroUsi stereo microphones, windbubbles and a dry bag.

SMNWR Midnight Frog and Fowl Calls, 2021 06/02 Lighthouse Road

Peaceful, semi-quiet nature ambience and recording of 10pm-11pm open pond nature sounds.  On this audio you may hear Pig Frogs, Green tree Frogs, Cricket Frogs as well as Moorhen calls and other wildlife vocalize back and forth to one another with night language.  Excellent audio for studying, writing or resting.  The languages of nature can 'plug us humans back in' to background ambience our ancestors lived within, and from which our DNA evolved.  Approximately one hour of healing nature calls from across a florida marsh pond.  Recorded overnight with Sony PCM recorder and LOM MikroUsi stereo microphones covered with fuzzy windbubbles.

Late Night Marsh Pond Aquatic Ambience

Ten seconds audio clip of a large oak limb splitting off from the main tree trunk and crashing to the ground below.  I was recording underground audio immediately adjacent a milkcap mushroom (Lactifluus hygrophoroides) with Sony PCM recorders, LOM Geofon adapted to a cylindrical brass soil probe as well as a MikroUsi microphone pair inserted into brass soil probes (yet still able to record aboveground background) when the limb split off the tree and fell to the ground.  The tree and limb were approximately 50 meters from the recorders when the limb fell.  Interestingly, it appears the Geofon picked up two wood splitting pressure vibrations traveling down the tree and through the soil before the crashing sound waves reached the MikroUsi pair. These two loud vibrations can be heard immediately before the loud crack on the Geofon track but not on the MikroUsi tracks.  In general, mechanical vibrations may travel faster through the earth than through the air.  This is part of a hour long audio recording capturing underground vibrations traveling through roots and  underground mycorrhiza networks associated with adjacent mushrooms.

Geofon MikroUsi Large Tree Branch Falling

Relaxing wildlife ambience.  Sunrise bird and frog calls from across a brackish water marsh in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.  The thirty minute audio starts with Pig Frogs calling back as well as the lonesome call of a Chuck Will's Widow. 
 Soon several Carolina Wrens begin vocalizing along with a Common Gallinule.  As the sun rises the calls of a White-eyed Vireo become more dominant along with a Squirrel Treefrog.  Sony PCM recorder, LOM Clippy 272's, windbubbles and drybags. May 2021.

Marsh Sunrise, Languages Of Nature

A little over one minute audio of steady rain falling against a downspout.  recorded using piezo stereo microphones and Geofon. Sony PCM recorder.

Rain On Downspout Geofon And Piezo

As the sun sets over the saltwater-brackish marsh, the frog calls begin.  This 10 minute audio features an interesting variety of aquatic frogs, including: gopher frogs (Lithobates capito), pig frogs (Lithobates grylio), green treefrogs (Hyla cinereus) and others.  The recording was done with a Sony PCM recorder and Clippy 272 microphones protected by dry bags and windscreens.  Nature ambience is great for healing, sleeping, studying and/or meditation.

Sunset Over the Marsh, Frog Chorus

Spending a day hiking in nature makes me feel much better.  This 'feeling better' can be quantified too. For me, spending time out in the wilds resets my nervous system, lowers my blood pressure, dissipates stress and just makes me feel all around better.

Back in the city however we are continually exposed to a much heavier, constant background noise loading than we would be if we lived way out in the country.  There is a huge difference between the sounds in the urban core and the sounds in the wildlife refuge far away from roads, highways, buildings, factories and urban infrastructure.  Because we are desensitized to urban noise levels we don't realize how much this excess urban noise may be affecting our bodies. 

How does the constant elevated noise level from the city impact our health?  Irreversible hearing loss is now one of the most prevalent health issues affecting humans, as are hypertension and stress.  Loud urban noises include both unwanted noises such as traffic and wanted noises that include stereo speakers, concerts and loud car speakers.  All noises have a direct impact on our well being.

Spending a weekend day out in a state or regional park away from the city can provide a number of health benefits.  Time outdoors make us aware of just how noisy the urban core actually is.  From a health perspective it is important to recognize the true levels of ambient city noise we are exposed to daily.  Recognizing noises we previously ignored leads to an understanding of how spending time outside the city in nature can provide a number of important positive effects on our bodily systems.

The first 15 seconds of this audio was recorded just outside the Tallahassee city limit, in a residential neighborhood at midnight. The next 15 seconds were taken in the SMNWR at midnight, both recordings set with same gain (input volume) levels.  The differences in city noise and nature noise can be obvious when the ambient noise levels of both are compared side by side.  

When is the last time you have spent a number of hours outdoors, away from the city, hiking, tubing, swimming or camping?  Next time you go, pay attention to the differences between the noises from home and the much lower levels of background noise in the forests.  Once we are able to distinguish between urban and nature noise levels the contrast is obviously evident.

Working with nature recordings has heightened my desire to visit and re-visit the wilds.  As soon as I leave the city and draw near to the coastal wetlands preserves I feel a sense of relaxation come over me.  Immersed in birds' and frogs' melodious calls and the buffered quiet of forest green, my body responds with a noticeable increase in available energy tempered with deep relaxation. 

I am renewed.  Yet too soon the sun sets low and it is time to return to the noisy city.

Listen to the differences here.

Comparison Of Urban and Rural Ambient Noise Levels

Coyote Pack reconciliation calls after a midnight hunt in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.  Recorder placed in a mixed hardwood slough in the midst of a wet pine flatwoods. Sony PCM with stereo microphones in dry bags.  Waxing moon, light rain. November 2021.  The acoustics of the flatwoods are complex.  An abundance of water surface creates wave reflection and 'echos' as well as does the fire influenced open midstory under the acres and acres of pines.  Note: Coyote calls are usually a signal for the pack to regather or to call juveniles after nighttime excursions and not necessarily to signal a kill.

Coyote Calls, Port Leon Road SMNWR

The Common Gallinule, Gallinula galeata, is a waterbird that is often found in the vegetative shorelines and across many of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge open waterbodies.  The Gallinule is quite territorial and builds nests in 'basket' shapes hidden in marsh littoral and shoreline vegetation.  I particularly love the calls of the Gallinule and consider them to sound tropically resonant. The audio here was recorded on a November morning just before sunrise along the banks of HQ Pond in the SMNWR using a Sony PCM device with wind protected stereo lav microphones and a dry bag.

Common Gallinule Early Morning Calls, SMNWR

Two minute 3 A.M. field recording of a Canis (probably coyote) running down a shallow water creek bed, whimpering but not distressed. Recorder was stationed in a 6" DBH Bald Cypress tree along the bank of the creek. Sony PCM M10 and Clippy 272 microphones with fuzzy windscreens and double dry bags around the recorder.

Lone Canis Whimpering

3 a.m. owl call, probably an Eastern Screech Owl, female responding to males heard in the background.  This particular call is different than the normal call and sounds quite similar to the Boreal Owl, Aegolius funereus.  I am not an owl expert so I will have to defer to others.  Regardless, the owl call is mesmerizing. And after she ceases her call a pack of coyotes begins to call in the distance Sony recorder placed at edge of Mounds Pool in the SMNWR, hanging in older and tall buttonbush.  Clippy 272 stereo mics protected with fuzzy windscreens.  Recorder in dry bags.  November 30, 2021.

Eastern Screech Owl, Female Calls, 3 a.m.

Over twenty minutes of Gulf of Mexico salty breezes blowing through sabal palm (Sabal palmetto) fronds above a black rush (Juncus roemerianus) & cordgrass(Spartina alterniflora) marsh along a remote coastline of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Field crickets (Gryllus spp.) can be heard through the audio recording. Peaceful ASMR generating ambiance of nature's coastal breezes. Sony PCM M10 recorder (24 bit 96 kHz) and LOM MikroUsi microphones, furry windshields and dry bags. 9pm.

Half Hour Gulf Marsh Breezes, Sabal Palms And Crickets

December 2021 was one of the fourth warmest winter months on record and the green tree frogs, Hyla cinerea were expecting an early spring, calling throughout most of the night in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.  This audio is a little over one hour of brackish water marsh green tree frog calls.  During the summer the pig frogs, Lithobates grylio, would call in unison with the green tree frogs.  The night of the recording however there were few if any pig frog calls.  The green tree frogs called until about 2 a.m. when their calls ceased and then the field crickets made up the majority of night life calls.  The Sony PCM M10 recorder was stationed along a Florida Trail pathway just north of Stoney Bayou #3 in the SMNWR.  Lom MikroUsi stereo microphones protected by fuzzy windscreens were clipped to a wax myrtle, Morella cerifera along the marsh bank.  The recorder was protected with a dry bag.  This audio clip was taken between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. On this night the green tree frogs were much more vocal in the sawgrass of Stoney Bayou #3 than in the open water of the adjacent Stoney Bayou impoundment #2.

Green Tree Frogs Calls, Warm December In The Marsh, SMNWR

One minute, night hunting vocals of a Shrew, possibly Southern Short Tailed, Sorex sp. in St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Port Leon Road, 2 a.m.  November 2021 Shrews feed primarily during the night but will forage during the day also.  The Shrew's feet have evolved to assist in digging for prey and this mammal has sharp curved claws.  Shrew's diet includes many small insects, bugs, larvae, plant matter and small vertebrates which it can paralyze with a solution of mild salivary venom injected into prey by biting.  Shrew's generally prefer lowland flatwoods with a lot of organic matter for hunting (digging) and burrowing. The Shrew's vocalizations are high pitched 'twittering' and studies have shown that Shrew's have adapted their senses to use this twittering as a form of echolocation.
Sony PCM Recorder, Lom MIkroUsi with fuzzy windshields and dry bags.

Southern Short Tailed Shrew Sorex Vocals

One hour audio of wet pine flatwoods sunset sounds.  As the sun drops below the tree line, the Eastern Wood Pewee along with crickets begins their night calls. The Eastern Wood Pewee is an olive-grey North American flycatcher bird with two whiteish bars on its wings who prefers open pine or mixed deciduous forests for hunting insects from mid-level perches. This bird migrates to the Caribbean and Central America annually. The Eastern Wood Pewee builds nests from grasses and twigs and is often recognized by its 'pee-a-wee' sounding high pitched call. This recording was taken at sunrise in a pine dominated wet forest area in the St. Marks National Wildlife refuge. Other birds including Chuck Will's Widow, Antrostomus carolinensis, soon can be heard in the background. As the sun sets and darkness sets in, the Chuck Will's Widow and crickets continue their calls. Sony PCM recorder, MikroUsi microphones, windscreens and dry bags.

Dusk In The Wet Flatwoods

One hour of Southern Field Crickets (Gryllus spp) calling after sunset in the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge.  Habitat is fire influenced wet pine flatwoods with Serenoa repens, Andropogon spp. and Aristida spp. groundcovers. Sony PCM recorder, Clippy 272s, fuzzy windshields and drybags. November 2021.

Late Night Crickets Calling In The Pine Flatwoods

Sunrise cormorant calls from a tall pine rookery overlooking HQ pond in the ST. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Along with the cormorants the twenty plus minute audio features red winged blackbirds, gallinules, herons and other wildlife including the nasal grunt of pig frogs, Rana grylio (Lithobates grylio). Sony PCM recorder with Clippy microphones, dry bags and fuzzy windshields. April 11, 2022.

Cormorant Sunrise

20 minutes of early morning April 2022, sunrise sounds from across the marsh ponds in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Bird calls include mourning doves, red-winged blackbirds, gallinules (sometimes quite animated), cormorants, herons, kingfishers and more.  Occasional frogs you will hear include the pig frog and green tree frog. 6 am, April 11, Sony PCM recorders & LOM Mikrousi mics w windscreens & drybags.

April Marsh Pond Morning

Just over one minute of a Pileated Woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus, calling from a tree along the edge of a shallow freshwater pond in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.  Southern Cricket Frogs, Acris gryllus, can be heard in the background along with other birds. Caption photo is of the pond and includes my art rendition of the Pileated Woodpecker.

Pileated Woodpecker Call, SMNWR

Just over thirty minutes of sunrise bird & wildlife chorus from open canopy wet (freshwater) pine flatwoods about one half mile east of Lighthouse Road in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.  I think I hear the following birds: Eastern wood pewee, Great crested flycatcher, possibly Common yellowthroat, Mourning dove, Yellow throated warbler, Louisiana waterthrush, Carolina wren, Red bellied and Pileated woodpeckers and more. Southern field crickets, Gryllus rubens, background calls. Sony PCM recorders powered by Ladda 2450s & Lom Usi Mics, Rycote windjammers, dry bags. April 22, 2022

Wet Flatwoods Sunrise Birdsongs

Thirty minutes of midnight Green Tree and Pig frog calls from windy (gusts are clearly audible during the recording) overflow area where the East River Pool empties into St. Marks River coastal marsh. Occasionally boat motors from out in the Gulf and small overhead airplanes may be heard.  Eastern field crickets also provide a subtle background chorus. Sony PCM recorders, LOMUsi mics, Rycote windjammers and dry bags for audio equipment. April 2022

Midnight Marsh Frog Calls SMNWR

Early evening frog and barred owl calls across shallow freshwater pond in pine flatwoods west of Lighthouse Road.  Frequent wind gusts are audible as well as Southern field crickets.  This audio is a twenty minute chorus of cricket frogs interspersed with barred owl calls, typical of wet, freshwater flatwoods night sounds. Dry bag protected Sony PCM recorders, with fuzzy windshields and clippy lav mics.

Barred Owl And Cricket Frogs Early Evening April 2022

40 Minutes of dawn bird, crickets and frog calls east of Visitors Center adjacent wet pine flatwoods pond. 5am - 5:40am April 2022.  The dawn chorus audio starts with the night hunting Chuck will's Widow in the distance.  As sunrise nears other birds, such as Great crested flycatcher, Gallinule, Northern Cardinal, Mourning dove, Carolina wren, White eyed Vireo, Owls, Northern Parula and others begin their songs and calls.  Pig frogs, Southern cricket frogs and a few green tree frogs add to the nature melody as do a large n umber of Southern Field Crickets.  The wind gusts were a bit strong and somewhat noticeable. Sony PCM recorders, DPA 4060 mics, windjammers & drybags.

Dawn Chorus, Freshwater Pond

One hour, 1am-2am Chill marsh frog & cricket calls recorded from the edge of Lighthouse Levee Trail.  By 1am mating calls have slowed  & frogs have chilled for the evening.  Instead of the frenzied calls of just after sunset, the Pig Frog and Green Tree Frogs are much more interestingly nuanced with Southern Field Cricket stridulation in the background. Post midnight nature audio is some of the most relaxing & peaceful of wildlife nighttime choruses. I play this track while working, relaxing and even while going to sleep ay night.  #Sony PCM recorders.

Past Midnight Marsh Frog Chill

One hour of midnight Pig Frog, Lithobates (Rana) grylio back & forth conversations in a fresh to brackish water shallow pond south of the SMNWR fire tower at HQ pond. Southern Cricket Frogs, Acris gryllus & Southern Leopard Frogs, Lithobates (Rana) sphenocephalus call in the background with Southern Field Crickets. Gryllus rubens. This audio clip exemplifies southern midnight marsh sounds; very 'old-Florida'. Sony PCM recorders, LOM MikroUsi lavs, windjammers, drybags & Ladda power cells.

Pig Frog Midnight Conversations

Three minutes of green tree frog choruses (Hyla cinerea) post sunset from the edges of an alligator dominated pond in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Sony PCM recorders, Clippy mics, fuzzy windbubbles & dry bags. May 2022.

Green Tree Frog Chorus

Sunrise avian chorus from black rush, Juncus roemerianus and sawgrass, Cladium spp. dominated marsh edges where scrub live oak, Quercus geminata, Wax myrtle, Morella cerifera and Cabbage palms, Sabal palmetto line the banks.  This particular location was closer to the Gulf of Mexico shoreline than it was to the wet pine flatwoods and so the birds joining in the morning chorus were primarily crows, red-winged blackbirds, gallinules, marsh wrens and other coastal marsh dwellers. Just under an hour of dawn bird call nature audio from the coastal marsh of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Southern field crickets call in the background. Sony recorders, LOM microphones, windjammers & dry bags. Raw wav audio.

Salty Marsh Sunrise Chorus

May 2022 Sunrise marsh edge audio.  I love the way mourning doves fill background ambience with their soft calls.  This 50 minute nature recording also features Carolina Wrens, occasional Gallinule calls, blue-gray gnatcatcher calls, frogs and much more wildlife as they greet the coming day.  Fishing boat (out in the Gulf) motors may be heard in the background. Recorders set along the scrub oak lined marsh just west of Lighthouse Road and Headquarters Pond.  Sony PCM, clippy mics, windbreakers and dry bags.

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher Nest & Calls

It was a challenge to compile ten hours of refuge audio & here is my latest attempt. There is just so much wildlife audio going on in this recording from around the shallow freshwater pond adjacent the visitor center of St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Listening to this audio, beginning as the park closes for the night, would be akin to camping out & listening to the night sounds - from dusk till dawn. Probably one of the most diverse ecological systems in Florida, shallow & wet flatwood ponds are usually covered in vegetation such as duck potato, cattails, irises, fragrant water lilies, pickerel weed, reeds, blue eyed grasses, Xyris, Andropogons, rushes and shrubs around the edges and so much more.  All this native vegetation provides an amazing amount of communal, foraging and just general hang-out habitat for innumerable amphibians, reptiles and of course birds. Lighthouse road wraps around east side of the pond and leads out to the Gulf of Mexico and the iconic sun-bleached St. Marks lighthouse.  Speed control devices on the road create a tell tale 'slow-down' growl as cars hopefully obey the speed limit driving past the pond on the way to salt marshes and Gulf horizons. Over the years of my field recording I've learned that freshwater ponds such as this one are preferred by several different frog species, such as the Southern Cricket Frog, Acris gryllus in addition to the frogs I hear in brackish & salt marsh areas such pig frog, Lithobates grylio, and green tree frogs, Hyla cinerea.  This recording is a compilation of ten, hour long file segments, back to back, recorded 7pm night of May 17th until 6 am May 18th 2022.   I'm kind of a nature nerd when it comes to listening long playing nature ambience.  Interestingly, if you look at the audio wave graphics, the night chorus begins just after sunset and lasts until just past midnight where calls begin to diminish, although they do continue through dawn and the start of early morning bird singing.  The occasional automobile noise diminishes after 9 pm-ish and begins again around 6am the next morning and I find it interesting for the most part the wildlife have acclimated to sounds originating from human activity.  I do hear barely discernible background timbering activities early in the morning of the 18th occurring north of the park entrance along with Chuck-Will's-Widow wrapping up their incessant night hunting calls.  Hope you enjoy the audio and I appreciate your feedback in the comments section.  Sony PCM D100 & M10 recorders, LOM USI mics, windbubbles & drybags.

SMNWR

10 Hours After Dark Freshwater Pond Night Choruses

Wading through the cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, mudflats just after sunrise, shorebirds calls and songs abound. This thirteen minute field recording clip features Clapper rails, Rallus crepitans along with marsh wrens, Cistothorus palustris and Carolina wrens, Thryothorus ludovicianus calling and in dawn song.  Marsh wren's call is a high-pitched, shrill trill and I've seen their nests just up from the shoreline constructed in christmasberry shrubs, Lycium carolinianum.  Clapper rails are more secretive birds, nesting in the cordgrass and hunting one of their favorite prey, fiddler crabs. The Carolina wren's melodious call is familiar to all, and their songs accompany both the marsh wren's and clapper rail's towards the end of the audio. Recording from west of Lighthouse Road close to the gulf of Mexico out around the fringes of windy cordgrass mudflats (you can also hear the waves coming in up on the shoreline), sunrise. Sony D100 & A10, Clippy mics, windbubbles & drybags.

Clapper Rail and the Wrens Gulf Side

One hour of smooth & soothing calm night tidal pool ambience.  The audio captures gentle waves lapping cordgrass dense shoreline, softly buffeted with salty Gulf breezes & the major attraction being mellow Southern Field Cricket, Gryllus rubens.  This recording is a good example of a quiet night at the tidal pool shoreline & all birds, waves, soft breezes & wildlife calls form a pleasing background to the soothing cricket trills. I play this track for nature background ambience while doing most any of my chores or study.  I find this recording to be extremely effective at relaxing my body.  Many times nature audio can be so alive with wildlife calls and song that my adrenaline flows. This recording however actually relaxes me without making me overly sleepy, though I wouldn't hesitate to play it while taking a nap or going to sleep for the night.  One hour of awesome St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge salty tidal pool's soft ebb and flow framed with syncopated but relaxing cricket trills. Sony PCM recorders, LOM MikroUsi Mics, windbubbles & dry bags. May 2022

Waves Gulf Winds Shorebirds And Cricket Chill

Florida native, bioacoustics, nature art & poet, A & B dissection, RCC. Swamps, beaches, wildflowers, Hemp Farmer, ethnobotanist & lawyer. #leedAP #marfan http://kevinsonger.com

Kevin Songer

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