Name: Pacific Rainforest - Vanuatu - Album sample by Listening Earth
Duration: 3 min

MacKinlay's Cuckoo Dove, with mellow whistling from endemic Southern Shrikebills

Melanesian Cuckoo-shrike (cat-like calls and sharp whistles)

Pacific Imperial Pigeons, with a Red-bellied Fruit Dove too

3 minute audio sample from the 80 minute nature sound album; "Mojave", available for download from www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=118

It is the still moments before dawn in the Mojave desert. 

The first birds begin calling in the dark, their voices drifting over the open plains. From rocky slopes come the echoes of a Coyote pack in full cry, while a pair of Great Horned Owls call as they patrol their territory. 

As the dawn chorus grows, we hear a variety of western desert birdsong; Sparrows, Cactus Wrens, Flycatchers and Thrashers. A community of Gambel's Quail call prominently as they socialise, and a tiny Hummingbird buzzes our ear.

Mojave, An American Soundscape - Album sample

3 minute audio sample from the 76 minute nature sound album; "Redwoods", available for download from www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=124

This album is presented in three scenes: a first dawn, an afternoon, and another dawn. The afternoon sequence is particularly spacious and relaxing, the dawn recordings fascinating and evocative. The ravens in these redwoods are rather characterful, giving all kinds of gargling and croaking calls.

We were so delighted to capture the sounds of Marbled Murrelets. These small seabirds  spend the day feeding at sea, before returning to roost high in a Redwood. They are a rare species, very endangered, and we are privileged to hear them as they wing seawards on their morning 'commute'.

Redwoods, An American Soundscape - Album Sample

3 minute audio sample from the 65 minute nature soundscape; "Les Suetes" by Mark Brennan, available for download from www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=125

Les Suetes is the song of the wind over the Northern forests.

This album is an uninterrupted soundscape, featuring the high winds that blow across the boreal plateau of the Cape Breton Highlands of Nova Scotia, Canada. Recorded in a sheltered old growth Acadian Forest, it is an intimate exploration of this unique weather phenomenon.

'Les Suetes' by Mark Brennan - Album sample

The reef-fringed islands of the Vanuatu group lie in the subtropical western Pacific Ocean. Their geographic isolation has lead to the evolution of species found nowhere else on earth.

Within earshot of waves breaking in the distance, this recording features the sounds of one of the Vanuatu's lowland rainforests.

3 minute audio sample from the 64 minute nature sound album; "Pacific Rainforest - Vanuatu", available for download from http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/p-129

Pacific Rainforest - Vanuatu - Album sample

In the far north-east of Poland, extending over the border into Belarus, is the vast Bialowieza Forest, containing some of the largest surviving fragments of the primeval forest of the north European Plain. In this varied forest landscape, with its mysterious vastness, undulating from riverine swamps to drier plateaux, you become immersed in some of the most resonant avian soundscapes of European woodland. 

The area is low-lying and fairly flat, crossed by several slow-flowing rivers. Along some sections of these rivers there are quite wide corridors of more open habitat, with marshes, pools, sedge meadows and reed-beds, all interspersed with patches of shrubbery. These intergrading riverine habitats have an interesting mix of forest and wetland birds and remain lush with song for much of the day and into the night. The dampness and warmth in spring give rise to frequent overnight mists and heavy dews: mosquitoes thrive here, providing an abundant source of food for the insectivorous birds, but a challenge for any human visitor wanting to sit still for longer periods.

This album features a selection of scenes that have stuck with me: in the 10 years that have elapsed since my visits there, I keep returning to these recordings and still find them enthralling. Tracks 1 to 4, then 9 and 10, are all taken around the same clearing on the Narewka river just beyond the outskirts of Bialowieza village; tracks 5 to 8 are from further out along the riversides. The scenes take us through the course of a morning; then the final track is the evening chorus, roughly back where we began. All the tracks except the last (evening) are segued together, reflecting the continuity of locations, times and community. 

This is a 3 minute audio sample from the 82 minute nature sound album; "Bialowieza II - Riverine Scenes", by Geoff Sample, available for download from www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=133

'Bialowieza 2 - Riverine Scenes'  by Geoff Sample - Album Sample

This is an audio sample from the nature sound album: 'Dawn Chorus: Australia's Inland' (75mins).  
Download the full album here: http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=100

"Amongst the many wonders of the Australian outback is the beauty of its birdsong.

In arid mulga woodland country, the first birdsong is sparse, with a Willy Wagtail, Hooded Robins and Spotted Nightjar calling in the darkness. A White-fronted Honeyeater then begins singing; a charismatic cadence of metallic sounds, soon joined by another and the two sing a spectacularly choreographed duet.

Eventually a rich chorus of birdsong evolves, among it the liquid tones of Crested Bellbirds, the low booming of Bronzewing Pigeons, and ethereal songs of Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush.

This un-edited recording allows you to experience the outback dawn in all its magic."

'Dawn Chorus: Australia's Inland' - album sample

Australia is a land of beautiful and unique birdsong.

From the familiar voices of bush and garden, to the secret song of the Redthroat; from a magical chorus of Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters, to a forest ringing with Bellbirds - This album is a journey around the continent, and a personal selection of our favourite songbirds.

'Favourite Australian birdsong'- album sample

Deciduous woodlands are found across the Deccan plains of central India, and are home to some of India's most characteristic birdlife. This album comes from one unedited recording, with birdsong gradually developing as the sun rises.

We begin with White-browed Fantails, Prinias, Barbets, Bulbuls, Orioles and other small birds together weaving a melodic chorus. Among them, the quick drumming of a tiny Yellow-crowned Woodpecker sounds like a creaking door, while Alexandrine Parrots, Turtle Doves and Scimitar Babblers can also be heard. Later a pair of Indian Grey Hornbills fly in, and a troupe of Langurs call nearby.

This is a magic recording from a perfect morning, presenting a symphony of India's dry-country songbirds. 

'Indian Woodland Birdsong' - album sample

3 minute audio sample from the 74 minute nature sound album; "Dawn Chorus", by Geoff Sample, available for download from http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=107

It is predawn in a woodland in northern England. Trees drip with a heavy dew from overnight mists, and we hear the last of the nightbirds; tawny owl and woodcock.

The first songbirds begin, and a cuckoo starts up somewhere in the distance. Gradually more birds take up singing until the soundscape is a mass of intertwined themes. The main chorus is heard from outside the wood - a surrounding sea of birdsong.

Once the full chorus begins to wane, we re-enter the wood to hear more spacious scenes with a variety of singers.

'Dawn Chorus' by Geoff Sample - Album Sample

In the leafy shade of a woodland in Southern Turkey, the air is perfumed with the aroma of Frankincense. 

In ancient times, this small forest supplied sacred resin that was traded from Egypt to Babylon. Still a productive grove today, it is an oasis of calm. Birdsong wafts among the trees - Serins, Chaffinches, Long-tailed Tits, Nuthatches, Blackbird and Greenfinches are heard as they flit among the branches on a sunlit, spring morning.

'Frankincense Forest': album sample

3 minute audio sample from the 79 minute nature soundscape; "Native Birdsong of New Zealand", available for download from www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=116

New Zealand has relatively few native bird species, however they are among the best songbirds anywhere. This album presents a soundscape which features most of them.

We begin in the predawn, experiencing a dawn chorus of Tuis and Bellbirds; without doubt the magical, silvery songs that eighteenth century naturalist, Joseph Banks, described in his journal as "certainly the most melodious wild musick I have ever heard". 

Joining the dawn chorus we also hear Whiteheads, Stitchbirds and Saddlebacks, each rare endemic species with distinctive voices. 

However it is the Kokakos that steal the show. They are so rare it is a privilege to encounter them. Their slow songs comprise pure tones, and which feel somewhat sad and mournful to our ears. Here a pair sing antiphonally, their voices carrying through the bush like the mythical sirens. 

Next, we visit New Zealand's ancient podocarp forests, to hear the magnificent Kakas. These playful, large cockatoos have exhilarating vocalisations; a variety of explosive rasps, liquid whistles, and intimate chuckles. We also hear native Robins in full voice, the delicate tinkling of the Tomtit, and the eerie wails of secretive Wekas. 

Moving to the South Island, we encounter species restricted to those cooler habitats, including Brown Creepers, Riflemen, and the increasingly rare Yellowheads. 

Finally, the iconic, nocturnal Kiwi. As dusk falls, the Tuis fall silent as the first Morepork awakes. A Kiwi calls close by, while another walks steadily towards us with shuffling gait through the leaf litter. Passing within inches, it moves off into the night. 

'Native Birdsong of New Zealand' - Album sample

Listening Earth offers an evocative range of natural listening experiences -  soundscapes recorded in wild locations around the world. 

Established 25 years ago by nature field recordist Andrew Skeoch and photographer Sarah Koschak, it is their passion to share the beautiful, unique and often fragile soundscapes of our living planet. 

"We hope listening will remind you of life in balance, and transport you to wild and often remote places."

Pacific Rainforest - Vanuatu - Album sample

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