Wow.  Love the resonance within their vocal tract.

This is a second recording made in 2020 of the fallow deer 'lek'. This happens around in the second half of October in the UK. The males tend to congregate in in small groups or mating territories where they exhibit lekking behaviours such as sticking to particular 'stands' where they will repeating grunt and bellow.

This recording was made with a Sony M10 and a spaced pair of clippy EM172s. The mics were placed where I had observed a large group of rutting males the night before.

PS DEER MALEGRUNTS MULTIPLE VERYCLOSE MOVEMENTACROSSSTEREOFIELD M10

This is a recording of some interactions on a black grouse lek in the highlands of Scotland. 

It was recorded with a Sony M10 and a matched pair of Clippy EM172 mics.

AVIEMORE  - BLACK GROUSE LEK - EARLY MORNING - VERY CLOSE COOING AND HISSES 2.0 M10

A pair of juvenile Long-Eared Owls calling out from the top of a tall pine tree along the Plateau De Montselgues in Ardeche. This was recorded at approximately 22h00 on a windy mid-May evening. 

Sound Devices Mix Pre 6 + 2 x Sennheiser MKH 8040s (ORTF)
12.05.2021

Thanks to Grégory Chamming's & Olivier Pichard for help identifying the species.
Photo courtesy of Hedera Baltica (Creative Commons)

Juvenile Long-Eared Owls - Plateau De Montselgues, Ardeche, France

A small flock of sixty Migrating Whooper Swans in the middle of night resting on Makholma Bay, Western Finland.  The tempo of the yoking will increase to the end. The nearby shore with forest is giving a nice echo. 

Video from the Bay:  http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/211114a/

(MKH8020 ab80cm, SD702, 24/48, Flac)

Whooper Swans  - 14/11/2021 - Makholma Bay

Good headphones are recommended, as this is a binaural recording.

Black Swans amongst Australian Shelducks. Also, Grey Teals, Silver Gulls, Pacific Black Ducks, among others. An excerpt from a longer recording made between around 03:00 to 04:00, long before first light, in the Coorong region, near Narrung. Recent heavy rains inland have brought much fresh water downriver, reducing the salinity of the Coorong waters and adjacent lakes, which has resulted in a blessed influx of birds. The location of the recording is at least 15 kilometres from the Coorong, but traces of the Coorong's signature relentless deep roar are audible from here.

Recorded on land of the Ngarindjerri people that is now either National Park or privately owned pastoral land.

2022.02.20 Black Swans. Coorong. Night. Late Summer.

A short and quick test for Zoom F3 and Dodotronic Hi-Sound stereo 2 + 2 AOM 5024 Phantom Power 48Volt stereo parabolic microphone.

Zoom F3 - Dodotronic HiSound Stereo - Nightingale Song

Thunder, Huron County, Canada

As the sunset in the old disused quarry, just outside Lérouville, most of the songbirds fell silent. But the Song Thrush perched just to the left of my microphones and continued singing for another 15 minutes. In the background we hear the melodic chorus of Common Midwife Toads that were located in the sandy hill just ahead of my mics. At around 3 minutes in, we also hear Parsley Frogs off in the distance.

Sound Devices Mix Pre 6 + 2 x MKH 8040s (ORTF)
Recorded on 05.06.2022

Song Thrush And Common Midwife Toads - Lorraine, France

These recordings were made with deep respect in the country of the Ngarrindjeri peoples.

With respect, with sadness, with hope. Everything here has changed; except for the sound of the ocean. Where the waters meet, is where the sounds merge. The sound of the ocean, permeating all, remains the same.

Unprocessed excerpts from original recordings. (Listening with good quality headphones - preferably open-backed - with a flat frequency response is recommended.)

An Afterword: I am deeply pleased and honoured that the original recordings from which this piece was composed have found a perfect home in Megan Spencer's important and heartfelt podcast, 'Bringing His Spirit Home: Private Arthur Thomas Walker, Ngarrindjeri ANZAC', as immersive field recordings made in, and expressing the natural spirit of, Arthur Thomas Walker's home country. This educational podcast is one of four produced by Megan, commissioned by the Virtual War Memorial Australia, and can be heard here: https://vwma.org.au/education/bringing-his-spirit-home-private-arthur-thomas-walker-ngarrindjeri-anzac.

Some of my earlier Kurangk/Coorong recordings have also been happily woven into Megan's related podcast, 'Walking in Two Worlds: The WW1 Story of Ngarrindjeri ANZACs Cryril & Rufus Rigney', which can be heard here: https://vwma.org.au/education/podcast--walking-in-two-worlds--the-ww1-story-of-ngarrindjeri-anzacs-cyril-rufus-rigney.

@Bandcamp

2022.10.09 From the Mouth of Murrundi to Goolwa Beach. Kumerangk, Kurangk. Night to Dawn. Spring.

30 June 2020

During an unattended nocturnal recording session in a patch of old-growth forest a rain and thunder weather passed over during late evening hours. Birds stopped singing except for a Common Chiffchaff which actually seemed triggered by the rain and thunder.

Vindeln commune, Northern Sweden (64.11 N, 19.44 E)

Primos, +6 dB, 150 Hz/6 dB low cut filter in post

Chiffchaff singing in rain and thunder

Recording of the final stages of the dawn chorus at castle wood near gifford with light rain and two roe deer barking

PS RoeDeerBarks Gifford LightRain DawnChorus 20.05.13 5.10am 96KHz24bit 4

Pete Smith is a professional field recordist and sound designer with a keen interest in wildlife and conservation. 

PS DEER MALEGRUNTS MULTIPLE VERYCLOSE MOVEMENTACROSSSTEREOFIELD M10

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