Excellent!  The varied genetics of eastern coyotes is certainly reflected in their voices.

During a mid-March visit to Big Bend National Park in Texas, I recorded this immersive binaural soundscape at dawn in Santa Elena Canyon. It features wind blowing through a dense thicket of Carrizo Cane (an invasive species from Asia that is now common along the Rio Grande), which produces clicks and clatters as gusts pass through the stiff, bamboo-like reeds. Ravens nest in the canyon and croak repeatedly as they fly up and down the Rio Grande River, their calls echoing off the steep cliffs above. Such a pleasing, enveloping mix of the sounds of the wind, ravens and reeds!. Please wear headphones for optimal immersion!

Recorded by Lang Elliott on March 17, 2021 shortly before sunrise. © Lang Elliott, All Rights Reserved.

Wind, Ravens, Reeds

I placed the microphones a few metres from a small stream in upland rainforest and left them to capture the dawn chorus. You can hear the raucous calls of Orange-footed Scrubfowl (one of Australia's three species of megapode or mound-builder) as well as the unusual wails of Spotted Catbird. Occasionally Northern Barred Frogs (Mixophyes schevilli)call from the leaf litter.

Dawn at Lumholtz Lodge

Dawn at Lumholtz Lodge, Atherton Tablelands, Australia

Enjoy this lovely late winter dawn chorus recorded around 7am on March 30, 2022, in Shindagin Hollow, near Brooktondale NY. Various birds sound off against a backdrop of the gurgle of water flowing over beaver dams. Species heard include Blue Jay, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Hairy Woodpecker, Mallard, and American Crow (and perhaps more that I didn't notice?). Temperature was around 28F with no wind.

© Lang Elliott, musicofnature.org

The Leading Edge of Spring

The rainforest comes alive with sound at night. Listen to the sounds of the jungle for a few minutes and you'll notice a myriad subtle changes. Long version at https://youtu.be/5mRnCsRXwv8

Night in the rainforest

The main goal of my trip to Lorraine in the east of France was to record Common Midwife Toads. The location was an old disused quarry just outside Lérouville and knowing the toads begin calling after dusk, I arrived early to have time to scope out the location. I was immediately greeted by a group of very vocal Pool Frogs, their calls echoing around the quarry. I captured this recording much later that night, just after midnight. 

Sound Devices Mix Pre 6 + 2 x Sennheiser MKH 8040s (ORTF)
Recorded on 05.06.2022
Photo credit : Holger Krisp (Creative Commons)

Pool Frogs - Lorraine, France

It is late summer in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York. As night unfolds, crickets trill, their songs mesmerizing and tranquil. Then, without warning, Coyotes howl and yip, their reverberant echos reaching out in all directions. Exhilarating, intoxicating wild music, flowing deeply into the recesses of our minds.

NOTE: This is a 3-D binaural recording. Please wear headphones for a realistic spatial listening experience that wil make you think you're actually outdoors, immersed in the natural world. 

OF FUTHER NOTE: I recorded the coyotes one night in mid-July in a forested area in upstate New York. There was very little background sound, so I returned three weeks later to same spot to record crickets trilling gently. I then added the cricket chorus to the coyote track to provide a more relaxing and meditative background. Also ... long silent intervals between three different outbursts have been drastically shortened.

Recordings © Lang Elliott, Music of Nature. All Rights Reserved.

Coyote Reverberations

Braying outbursts of Wild Burros recorded at night next to Taylor Lake marsh in the Picacho State Recreation Area north of Yuma, Arizona. 6 April 2022. © Lang Elliott All Rights Reserved.

Note: This is a binaural soundscape. Please Wear Headphones for a natural, spacious sense of immersion.

Wild Burros of Picacho (with Coyote Finale)

NOTE: This is a binaural soundscape ... please listen using headphones! Otherwise, you may not appreciate the magic.

I always strive to keep my ears well-tuned, in order to perceive uplifting soundscapes that might easily escape notice, but sometimes I am not quite up to the task. Such was the case in late July of 2018.

I met up with two recording friends at one of my favorite wild areas … Shindagin Hollow in upstate New York, near where I live. We were very glad to see one another and immediately began chatting about this and that as we hooked up our recording equipment (they with parabolic reflectors and me with my binaural soundscape microphone). Then we dispersed, heading into the forest in different directions, each hoping to capture something of value.

It was then that I paused for a moment just to take in the scene … a foggy misty morning following a rainy night … the deep forest of hemlocks and hardwoods … drip from leaves in all directions … and subtle bird songs. I took a long slow breath and began to amble down the trail. At that moment, a wood thrush caught my attention, singing in the distance though quite clear. I stopped and listened more attentively … another was sounding off from even farther away, and a very faint one as well, unless I was just imagining it. And did I just hear a hermit thrush, buried in the mix?

Oh my, I almost did not notice … there, right next to the road, a lone ground cricket trilling prominently from the gravel. How could I have missed such an obvious sound? And then I detected a barred owl, hooting way off in the distance. And a mourning dove, just audible, cooing softly time and again.

Suddenly, I shook myself awake, finally aware of the miracle before me! The magic I was hoping to find somewhere down the trail was actually right next to me, fully and elegantly expressed! I did not need to walk down the trail in search of anything because nature was already showering me with an exalted mix, an elixir so pure and powerful that it thrilled my entire being, but only after I became fully receptive to it. Had I kept walking, I would have missed it entirely. Thank you wood thrush for breaking the spell of my self absorption, for unplugging my ears and inviting me into the here and now!

So finally I jumped into action … I quickly set up my soundscape mic, hit record, and prayed that nothing would interrupt this amazing concert so freely given. How careful we must be to keep our minds calm and quiet and our senses free of interference, so that we do not miss the extraordinary beauty that nature showers upon us, sometimes subtly, and often when we least expect it to arrive.

© Lang Elliott, Music of Nature. All Rights Reserved.

Thrush Dripscape

Sample from the 93 minute album "Borneo: Nepenthes Forest". 

Gentle rain, frogs, birds and a thunderstorm recorded in one of Borneo’s unique lower montane habitats.

Full album available for download from https://wildambience.com/albums/borneo-nepenthes-forest/

Borneo: Nepenthes Forest

Borneo: Nepenthes Forest - Album Sample

Exquisite dawn chorus featuring several Wood Thrushes sounding off at first light, with a gurgling brook nearby. Recorded at 5:15am, July 20, 2023 in Shindagin Hollow, near Brooktondale, New York. © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Please listen with headphones!

Wood Thrushes Singing at Dawn with Stream Gurgle

Wood Thrushes Singing At Dawn with Stream Gurgle

September 2016, The Matang Range, Sarawak, Borneo.

Pool ( Dusk to night )

Hi Friends! I am a professional nature recordist who travels to wild areas throughout North America and sometimes beyond. My current focus is to gather  immersive binaural 3D soundscapes that effortlessly transport listeners (using headphones) into nature and have a positive and healing effect on the mind, body and spirit.

Coyote Reverberations

Lang Elliott – Music of Nature

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