Natural Sound 101

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 80 minute nature soundscape; "Cloudforest - Malaysia", available for download from www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=120

A chain of rainforested hills run the length of peninsular Malaysia. Mists drift through these mountain forests, condensing and nourishing an abundance of epiphytes, mosses and ferns.

In the pre-dawn, a chorus of piping frogs and nocturnal insects gently fills the humid air. With first light, the wonderful diversity of birdlife found here begins to awake. Babblers chatter animatedly, and the whooping of Cuckoo Doves echo through the trees. One of the standout species of the forest is heard, the unusual buzzing call of a Fire-tufted Barbet.

A flock of Silver-eared Mesias pass by with much scolding and sweet singing, and the electric cries of a pair of Yellownapes carry through the treetops.

For all the tropical diversity, this recording is actually very easy on the ear. There is an organic pace to the changing soundscape; sounds ebbing and flowing gradually as the morning progresses.

'Cloudforest - Malaysia' - Album sample

Swift Parrots (Lathamus discolor) are pretty little creatures. Not only are they beautiful birds, but there are estimated to be only a few thousand of them left in the wild. (here they are calling with Wattlebirds and White-naped Honeyeaters in the background)

See more images of them here http://www.listeningearth.com/blog/swift-parrots-sounds-and-images

Swift Parrots

3 minute audio sample from the 66 minute nature soundscape; "Dawnsong of Tuis", available for download from www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=123

The Tui (pronounce "too-ee"), a native honeyeater of New Zealand, has one of the most extraordinary voices of the bird world.

Their vocabularies consist of fluting and ringing bell-like tones, wheezy whistles, buzzes, clucks and ultrasonics almost too high for the human ear.

This recording will take you to the majestic old-growth forest of Whirinake, to hear a sublimely musical chorus of Tuis singing in the hour before dawn.

As I stood in the darkness that morning, under ancient tree ferns, hearing those first Tuis begin calling, I knew it would be a special recording. It was one of those moments that I hope to hear; when nature creates pure beauty. I feel this album is a meditation on the beauty of the natural world. 

'Dawnsong of Tuis' - Album Sample

3 minute audio sample from the 60 minute nature soundscape; "Northern Wetland" by Mark Brennan, available for download from www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=122

Dip your paddle into the purity of Canada's Boreal wetlands. Glide gently through bogs, fens and marshes, to find yourself immersed in the sonic richness of these extraordinary places.

We value water, but do we also give value to the incredible biological diversity of these places? These recordings, from the high tundra plateau of the Cape Breton Highlands, to the hidden wetlands of the Acadian forests of Canada's east coast, help us to appreciate the uniqueness of these ecosystems.

Listen, relax and become intimate with the wetlands of the north.

'Northern Wetland' by Mark Brennan - 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

3 minute audio sample from the 75 minute nature soundscape; "Yosemite - Mariposa Grove Dawn" by Dan Dugan, available for download from http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/p-126-yosemite-mariposa-grove-dawn

Dawn comes to the giant sequoias of Yosemite's Mariposa Grove, the largest trees in the world.

It is a June morning, the peak of the spring breeding season. The dawn chorus evolves minute by minute, as a variety of species wake up, sing and leave to go off for breakfast. The single note of the Mountain Quail excites the reverberation of the forest, revealing the space around us.

This album was recorded in a single take - unedited and unmixed.

"Mariposa Grove is away from the main Yosemite Valley, on the southern edge of the park. On my annual visits, I tried various locations in the grove before discovering a superb spot in the Upper Grove at an altitude of 6500 feet, free of creek noise. The place is magical. I return to it again and again, in all seasons."

'Yosemite - Mariposa Grove Dawn' by Dan Dugan - Album sample

Deep in a side canyon in the American desert, the modern world seems far removed.

3 minute audio sample from the 77 minute nature sound album; "Canyonlands", available for download from http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/p-127-american-soundscapes-canyonlands

Deep in a side canyon in the American desert, the modern world seems far removed.

Massive rock walls tower above, and the dry canyon floor descends over rocky escarpments toward the main valley, from where a distant rush of water can faintly be heard.

The song of the Canyon Wren is distinctive of this landscape, a falling cascade of notes amplified in reverberation off the hard rocks. It is spring, and despite the arid surroundings, birdlife abounds; warblers, vireos, ravens, towhees, sparrows and finches can all be heard singing. Hummingbirds flit within inches, and perform their unique songflights overhead.

Canyonlands, An American Soundscape - Album sample

Thunder rumbles around the sky as afternoon storms roll overhead and rain gently falls

3 minute audio sample from the 72 minute nature sound album; "Summer Thunderstorm", available for download from http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/p-128

Summer Thunderstorm - Album sample

Emajoe-Suursoo is a vast area of mires, waterways and small forested higher grounds in the middle of inaccessible wetlands in Estonia, a small country by the Baltic Sea.

This is the delta of the River Emajogi, its waters flowing to Lake Peipsi, bordering Russia. The whole area covers more than 200 square kilometres, being one of the largest wetlands in Estonia.

In spring it comes alive with all kind of creatures. Waterfields, reedbeds, swampy mires and forested bog-islands offer plenty of resources for many species. Human disturbance is very low, and it is a perfect place for eagles and other solitary animals.

3 minute audio sample from the 60 minute album, available for download from:
http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/p-130-sound-journey-to-emajoesuursoo-estonia

Sound Journey to Emajoe-Suursoo - Album Sample

The bulk of volcanic Mount Meru dominates the Arusha landscape in equatorial East Africa. Looking out from its forested slopes toward the east, its sister volcano, Mt. Kilimanjaro, can be seen on the horizon some 70km distant.

This recording begins in silence under a canopy of tropical forest in the hours before dawn. From far away comes a barely audible murmuring; the huffing of distant colobus monkeys. Like a mexican wave, the sound grows closer, with each successive troupe around the base of the mountain waking the next, until a family of monkeys in the trees overhead begin calling; a wonderful, gruff, barking chorus.

Then it falls silent again. Bush babies call occasionally in the darkness. Soon the dawn birdsong begins, the air becoming filled with the sounds of greenbuls, flycatchers, sunbirds, and groups of colourful turacos which vocalise loudly as they scurry along high branches. Silverey-cheeked hornbills wing overhead, and diurnal cicadas begin buzzing. Birds move around the forest, as do the colobus monkeys, now active and clambering noisily around the treetops.

By late afternoon, other birds are heard, including the dusk singing of an olive thrush. The colobus give their evening chorus and the forest moves imperceptibly into the night.

3 minute audio sample from the 118 minute nature sound album; "Equatorial Africa - The Forests of Arusha", available for download from http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/p-131

Equatorial Africa - The Forests of Arusha - Album Sample

In the far north-east of Poland, extending over the border into Belarus, is the vast Białowieża Forest, containing some of the largest surviving fragments of the primeval forest of the north European Plain. This album comprises four tracks recorded at dawn and dusk in an area of mixed forest a little to the north-west of Białowieża village. 

The first track is over one hour of continuous dawn chorus, one of the richest I’ve ever experienced, under the towering presence of the old Stara oaks. A wide variety of forest birds make up the chorus, which diffuses into the resonant distance of this woodland soundscape. A collared flycatcher, one of the characteristic birds of the forest, can be heard singing for most of the way through the session; its atonal melodies seem to provide a unifying strand threading through the themes of other species. Black woodpecker activity is intermittent throughout, hammering, drumming and calling, and a pair of ravens comes and goes. 

Then there are three shorter tracks taken from nearby locations at dusk, where the spacious acoustic of this wonderful place is even more emphatic.

This is a 3 minute audio sample from the 97 minute nature sound album; "Bialowieza I - Stara Twilight", by Geoff Sample, available for download from http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=132

'Bialowieza I' by Geoff Sample - Album Sample

I've included a short spoken intro to this recording. 

Family groups of Colobus monkeys call in the early hours at Mt. Meru, each group starting off the next in a kind of 'mexican wave' around the mountain. If you listen carefully, you'll hear distant groups begin, and the sound of their wonderful growling build as nearby groups join the chorus. The loud yapping calls heard at beginning and end are those of Northern Greater Galagos (Bush Babies).

Colobus Monkeys calling at Mount Meru, Tanzania - intro by Andrew Skeoch

The wetter region of far southwestern Australia is home to ancient, towering stands of Karri and Jarrah. These two eucalypt species have been highly prized for their timber, however significant relic forests remain in reserves. 

These forests flower in spring, producing an exuberance of nectar that attracts crazy flocks of lorikeets and numerous honeyeaters. Pumped up on sugar, they skitter around the canopy, calling extrovertly.

But among the partying, there is far more to hear: pardalottes pipe sweetly while gleaning among leaves, the cries of Black Cockatoos echo as they wing lazily between the trees, tiny thornbills and wrens twitter close by from the shrubby midstory, and flycatchers sing pleasantly between airborn forays in search of insects. 

This album comprises a single recording, taking you into the heart of these lofty forests on a sunlit, spring morning.

This is a 3 minute audio sample from the 78 minute nature sound album; "Karri and Jarrah - The Great Forests of Southwest Australia", available for download from http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/p-134

Karri and Jarrah, The Great Forests of Southwest Australia - Album Sample

The Amazon is certainly one of the most impressive wild places in the world.

Many soundscapes from the Amazon basin are recorded in dense rainforest, with its high canopy, humid air and abundant mosquitos! This album however, is completely different. It will take you to an unexplored area of this forest. Welcome to the Campinarama, the unheard Amazon.

The Campinarama region is located north of the equator in the state of Roraima, Brazil. These recordings were made in Viruá National Park, an area that is currently closed to the public for conservation purposes.

The Campinarama looks like an open prairie, composed of high trees, grassy areas, and wetlands. Here are found very different bird species than the rainforest - kingfishers, tinamous, woodpeckers, woodcreepers, and many waterbirds.

In these five tracks, you are invited you to connect with this relatively unknown place.

3 minute audio sample from the 79 minute nature sound album; "Campinarama - The Unheard Amazon", by Juan Pablo Culasso, available for download from http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/p-135

Campinarama - The Unheard Amazon - Album Sample

Tetepare is a wilderness island of the Solomons group in the western Pacific. It is entirely covered in primary rainforest, and one of the few places where the nature of this region can be found and heard intact. Elsewhere throughout the Solomons, timber companies have stripped the forests to the detriment of not only the ecosystems and surrounding reefs, but often the livelihood of traditional peoples. Tetepare is sadly the last, truly wild island. 

We begin listening as surf breaks on the barrier reef that surrounds the island. Then, in the darkenss before dawn, we move into the primary rainforest itself. Kingfishers, megapodes, cuckoos, owls, insects and horned frogs call in dark. The ethereal piping of monarchs signals the coming dawn, and with it are heard the soft songs of the island's endemic white-eyes.

Later, the forest presents a diversity of tropical birdsong; metallic starlings feed nearby, lorikeets screech as they wing overhead, singing parrots and ducorp's cockatoos give melodious cries, fruit pigeons boom deeply, while cicadas chorus in gentle waves. The sounds of two species are especially impressive; the un-bird-like growls of buff-breasted coucals, and the calls of magnificent blythe's hornbills as they move around the forest on heavy wingbeats.

3 minute audio sample from the 80 minute nature sound album; "The Last Wild Island - Tetepare", available for download from http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/p-136

The Last Wild Island, Tetepare - Album sample

This soundscape from Australia's tropical north is one of the most spectacularly biodiverse we encountered in this part of the country.

The Gulf Country is a region of northern Australia, where open grassland and scattered woodlands drain across flat lands to the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is a tropical savannah landscape, with a distinct wet and dry season, and the mosaic of habitats make for a complex mix of species.

This recording captures a single morning from dawn onwards, as birds move around the woodland, feeding and socialising. There is such a diversity I can only begin to mention species, but lorikeets, friarbirds, whistlers, butcherbirds, babblers, weebills, apostlebirds, honeyeaters, gerygones, coucals and orioles are prominent. Kangroos can also be heard huffing, and as the morning warms up a soft hum of bush flies emerges.

The recording location is on the eastern edge of the gulf country, and hence you'll hear both species characteristic of the region, and others from more easterly distributions.

It is a rich mix!

3 minute audio sample from the 97 minute nature sound album; "The Gulf Country - Northern Australia", available for download from http://www.listeningearth.com/LE/p-137

The Gulf Country - Album sample

3 minute audio sample from the 60 minute nature soundscape; "A Wilderness Lake" by Mark Brennan, available for download from www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=115

This album reveals the rich soundscape of the Boreal and Acadian forests of Eastern Canada during the Northern Spring.

Recorded in two specially chosen locations, it takes us to the forested shorelines of Ayers Lake in New Brunswick, and Abraham Lake in Nova Scotia - both treasured locations by many who love the natural world.

The sounds come from a collection all recorded on location and feature many of the amphibians and migrant tropical birds to be heard in these places.



'A Wilderness Lake' by Mark Brennan - Album Sample

3 minute audio sample from the 62 minute nature sound album; "Serra dos Órgãos", by Juan Pablo Culasso, available for download from www.listeningearth.com/LE/product.php?id=114

Serra dos Órgãos (Organ Range) is a mountainous region in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It is a landscape rising from lowland grasslands and rainforests, to highlands with native forest, numerous freshwater springs, and all crowned by massive granitic outcrops.

This album features two recordings, made simultaneously - two dawn chorus of the same day; one of them in highland rainforest and the other in the lowlands.

The differences are many. In the highland rainforest, the landscape is introduced with the flapping of Rusty-margined Guan, together with a delicate chorus of insects. Later several species appear, the most prominent being the White-necked Thrush, along with the Red-eyed Vireo, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Greyish Mourner and many others.
 
In lowland rainforest, gentle raindrops mix with a chorus of crickets and the great voice of the Black-banded Owl. Then appears the rhythmic calls of a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, with the forest's echoes making these voices even more interesting. Doves and Gaun join in, and eventually a couple of Rufous-capped Motmot give a wonderful climax to the album.

Serra dos Órgãos by Juan Pablo Culasso - Album Sample

We are all homeless without meditation......

Natural Sound 101

Meditation Now