Beautiful. We don't get that in the Pacific Northwest. I remember it from my Pennsylvania days.

The Zumwalt Prairie in Northeastern Oregon is the largest remaining fragment of an area known as the Palouse Grasslands. This Northeast Oregon Patch covers several hundred thousand acres and is home to a large suite of plants and animals. In June, the prairie was alive with flowers, birds singing, and lots of wildlife. This is a collection of sound recordings made on the Nature Conservancy Preserve.

Western Meadowlark & Yellow Warbler

Zumwalt Dawn - Main Gate

I noticed that our local cicadas were most active - and loudest - just before dark in the past couple of weeks.  So I recorded them with a pair of 8020s, and peak normalized to -0 for best effect.  It does not, however catch the enormity of the sound.  A couple of evenings later I took a reliable sound meter out and the chorus maxed at 72.4dBA. About the SPL of a vacuum cleaner.  None of this came close to the Brood-X chorus in the mid-Atlantic states this past summer where the noise registered 100dBA - the equivalent of a commercial leaf blower up close.

Cicadas Loud Chorus

A Wolf family and Black Throated Loon
You can see a timelapse with this sound here: https://vimeo.com/73075892

Wolves and Black Throated Loon

Coyotes, elk, and screech owls echo through the campground at Quemado Lake in New Mexico.  Recorded at the end of September, 2015.

Coyotes, elk and owls_150929

Song Swans over Telinga, moving in from their winter quarters 2016-03-26. Two EM23 type III at each side of a camera bag, Sony M10, no filtering.

Song Swans moving in

This recording was made on January 10, 2018 at around 645am along the Slough Creek Campground road in Yellowstone National Park using a Sound Devices 722 digital audio recorder and two Audio Technica AT4022 omnidirectional microphones placed in a homemade binaural housing.

This pack of coyotes snuck up on me while I was listening to a pack of wolves howl. After the wolves stopped howling the first time, everything went silent. Gradually, I could hear the footprints of several animals running through the snow around me. Because it was still dark, I never saw them, even though they got to within 30-40 ft of where I was seated. Needless to say, they put on quite a show. Several minutes afterwards, the wolves resumed howling. Quite a morning for canids!

For the best listening experience, wear headphones!

Enjoy!

Recordings were made under permits issued by the park and for the purpose of science and education.

Coyotes Wake Up in Yellowstone

This recording was made during the early morning hours of May 20, 2018 at Blacktail Ponds in Yellowstone National Park using a Sound Devices 722 digital recorder and two Audio Technica AT4022 omnidirectional microphones placed in a homemade binaural housing.

In this recording, you can hear the many different marsh birds that inhabit this special place, including Yellow-Headed Blackbird, Red-Winged Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, Common Yellowthroat, American Coot, Killdeer, Wilson's Snipe, Sora, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Sandhill Crane, and Canada Goose.

In the distance, you can hear other species including American Robin, Vesper Sparrow, Brewer's Sparrow, Williamson's Sapsucker, and American Three-Toed Woodpecker. 

If you listen carefully with headphones at the 4:30 mark, you can hear the howl of a distant pack of wolves.

Finally, you can hear the noise of traffic driving by, although I've done a little work to minimize this.

Wear headphones for the best listening experience.

Enjoy!

Recordings were made under permits issued by the park and for the purpose of science and education.

Dawn Chorus -- Yellowstone National Park

This recording of the dawn chorus at Blacktail Ponds in Yellowstone National Park was made on May 20, 2018 at 6am using a Sound Devices 722 digital audio recorder and two Audio Technica AT4022 omnidirectional microphones placed in a homemade binaural microphone housing.

Wear headphones for the best listening experience.

Enjoy!

Recordings were made under permits issued by the park and for the purpose of science and education.

Wetland Dawn Chorus -- Yellowstone National Park

This recording was made in Rocky Mountain National Park on October 5, 2018 at around 8pm using a Sound Devices 722 digital audio recorder and two Audio Technica AT4022 omnidirectional microphones placed in a homemade binaural housing. You can hear multiple bull elk bugling, as well as a Great Horned Owl and Coyotes. Unfortunately, you can also hear distant traffic and generator at a nearby campground.

Wear headphones for the best listening experience.

Enjoy!

Recordings were made under permits issued by the park and for the purpose of science and education. To hear more recordings from the park, visit the Rocky Mountain National Park sound library at https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/photosmultimedia/soundlibrary.htm

Elk Rut and Rain Shower -- Rocky Mountain National Park

The sky was overcast and the day had only just begun, and it would be a while before the sun even tried to rise. Birds were in full chorus, and several Swainson's Thrushes dominated the soundscape. Then a Lincon's Sparrow and a Willow Flycatcher chimed in too.

Swainson's Thrush & Lincoln's Sparrow

Birder and bird photographer since 1979. I became fascinated on three trips to Costa Rica where the sounds of the natural world are as stimulating as the sights. My suburban home island on the coast of Georgia is a mad house of noise and it sits on a major air route so working here is challenging. In December, 2014 I took the big step to a Sound Devices 722. In 2019 I added a Zoom H4n Pro for bird recordings with a Sennheiser ME66, and then recently bought a pair of Sennheiser MKH 8020s to match up with the SD 722 for soundscapes.  

I see few recordings of the natural world from Georgia in the United States, so my goal has been to contribute from my home environment, on the coast, the mountains in the northern part of the state, and wherever else I have the pleasure of travel.

Cicadas Loud Chorus

Russ Wigh

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