Excerpts from a nice long recording expedition to Costa Rica in December 2023. Several days were spent at the San Gerardo Biostation in Bosque Eterno de los Niños (Children's Eternal Forest) cloud forest near Monteverde, several more in the lowland forest on the Eastern side of Osa Peninsula, and nearly two weeks on the coastal side of Osa.

I'll be adding more as I have a chance to comb through the full set of recordings.

Costa Rica 2023

I like birds. What can I say?

All birds were recorded by me, mostly in the United States' beautiful Pacific Northwest state of Washington.

Image credit given when not my own, all CC 1.0.

Avian Voices

A collection of long, unbroken soundscapes to soothe the working soul.

Soundscapes For The Working Mind

On the morning of 2021 May 17, I stepped out of my tent next to my favorite Okanogan wetland to collect a recorder and microphones I'd left attached to a pole the night. It was a cool, crisp Spring morning, but the life and voices of the marsh and lake were as active as always. This recording covers the Dawn Chorus, from 23 minutes before First Light (at 22:55, 04:46:58 PDT, click the comments below to playback directly) and through Sunrise (at 50:49, 05:14:41 PDT) for almost 90 minutes of what was really hours of singing and foraging.

The wind was light, and the cool air helped project voices across the lake. As always Red-winged Blackbirds, that most North American of wetland songbirds, flew about, singing, chasing, and defining territories. I was delighted to hear a Brewer's Blackbird, a shy cousin of the Red-winged, popping in and out of the mix. Their quick almost mechanical sounding songs can be easy to miss and often confused with a squeak of a fence. They have two prominent songs, a hinge-like squeak (23:39), and a soft "shuk-shuuk" like a film camera auto-winding between frames (24:29). For the '80s kids among us, I think it sounds more like a Kodak Disc Camera, but I digress...

Also hanging out, literally, are a pair of bats just trying to get some sleep (52:14 and later). I would have easily confused their audible chatter for the Tree Swallows that harried them endlessly, but watching it happen with my own eyes confirmed what I later heard on the recording. The 15 foot pole was topped by a large bucket to be used as a nesting box for waterfowl. This morning chattery Tree Swallows were using it as a resting spot between aerial acrobatics. The sleeping bats clinging to the underside of the bucket, however, did not like this idea and would angrily chatter and chase them away, at least until they finally fell fast asleep themselves.

Speaking of chatter boxes, a Song Sparrow (23:31) took up residence on a nearby shrub and lived up to his name, delivering clear variations of his song, playing with melody like a maestro. A Common Yellowthroat (43:47) flew in and out of the same shrub, trying to sing in or around the Sparrow, but his anxious warble never quite had the same thrilling clarity.

Songbirds aren't the only residents here, though. Across the lake, Canada Geese fly in-and-out, bringing their echoing honks with them, Pied-billed Grebes whoop-whoop almost seemingly out of control (47:12).

Prominent voices in this recording include Song Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Brewer's Blackbirds, Common Yellowthroats, Canada Geese, and Pied-Billed Grebes. When there's a lull in the background the occasional Western Meadowlark, Chickadee, Spotted Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Yellow Chat, Tree Swallow, Mallard, American Wigeon, and Wood Duck.

Okanogan Wetland Morning

Cliff Swallows, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, are garrulous, squeaky, clanky, just all-around awesome little birds. Highly social birds that often live in massive colonies, they nest in cracks and crevices in cliff walls --  hence their name -- making their homes out of mud and sticky spit. Yum.

Often "singing" from the entrance of their home, close recording is extremely difficult. This short collection were captured with a parabolic, isolated, and processed clean for sound effects' use.

Learn more at All About Birds; https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/cliff_swallow

Image Credit: "667 - CLIFF SWALLOW (6-25-2016) denali highway, mile p13 pass, near paxson, alaska -02" by Sloalan is marked under CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/cc0/1.0/

Cliff Swallow Nest Chatter and Song

12min - 0415am, First Light
12-54 min - 0415-0457, DAWN
54min - 0457am, Sunrise

Large wildfires are once again uncontrollably threatening much of the intermountain west in North America. Just 5 miles/ 8 km from the oncoming edge of the Cub Creek fire here in Washington is one of my most favorite places to record  anywhere. Thirtymile Meadows is one of the very few places I know of in the continuous 48 United States that is neither rainforest nor remote island where I can set up my microphones, press record, and expect a soundscape free of human-generated noise for at least 4 hours to be the result. Sometimes it can be up to nearly a day.
This was a little more than a month ago, the morning of Summer Solstice. It’s merely an excerpt.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to record there again, at least not a soundscape such as this, filled with birdsong. It’s highly likely my next trip with be filled with the whistling winds that wind around burned snags, the creaking of swaying barren trunks, perhaps the snapping and falling of dead wood.

Stands up on soapbox:
These forests depend upon fire for their very survival, but the rejuvenating fire that feeds their growth is low-level, fuel-consuming, and under-story burning. It cracks open seeds for hardy conifers. It clears room for new seedlings. It brings down larger diseased trees, returning their nutrients to the soil.
The fires we see raging now are not those fires.
For decades we have managed these forests by preventing fire without clearing the accumulating fuels. In the effort to keep “timber stock” available for logging and to protect the encroaching human settlements, all fire is suppressed. Weakened and dried by the advancement of climate change, trees age without replacement while dense, dry growth builds up beneath.
A simple spark (a lightning strike, an untended campfire, the hot under-carriage of a vehicle, a cigarette butt) is all that is needed to start a conflagration that does not clear and rejuvenate, but destroys.
With both the understory and tree cover gone, the ground becomes loose and rocky. The Autumn rains, Winter snows, and Spring melts wash away the fertile soils that nurse future growth.
We lose forest, and it doesn’t grow back. Not all of it. The interiors are safe for now, and can slowly re-grow over the ensuing decades if left un-molested. The edges are gone, however, and each successive fire and monsoon season scales them back farther.
Thirtymile Meadows is at a unique interface of interior, edge, and wet meadow. The meadow will survive, as should the deep forest to its Northeast. The Southwest edge, though, will disappear if the Cub Creek Fire reaches it. Already scarred by human-caused fires nearly twenty years ago, the Southern edge is dry, fuel-filled, and loose.

I don’t have an answer. I don’t have a plan. I just want to make people aware.

I also want to share the beauty of soundscapes that are in danger of disappearing, whether from noise pollution or ecosystem loss.

2021 - 06 - 21 ThirtymileMeadows Across The Dawn

Constant heavy rain with small drops on on vegetation waterlogged with puddles

Rain, Heavy, Small Drops on Waterlogged Vegetation

I am reuniting with @georgevlad and @trexbeverly to raise money for environmental causes this holiday season. The three of us have a deep love of nature and actively work to conserve natural soundscapes through our field recording. Together, we have raised $13,000 over the years from our annual giveaway contest. We are each donating some of our recordings as a prize to encourage donations. 
I am donating a custom selection of mastered bird, insect, mammal, and amphibian sounds and select soundscapes from the Pacific Northwest, Costa Rica, Alaska, Peru, and more selected from my personal library. These sounds are unavailable commercially and are normally packaged in custom libraries and sound design projects.
More than 45 bird species across 19 families, several species of cricket, katydid, ad cicada species, Rockies (Wapiti) and Olympic Elk, Douglas Pine Squirrels, Coyotes, Pacific Chorus Frogs, American Bullfrogs, Leopard Frogs, and more have been mastered and edited to best represent the individual species and reflect the variety of life found in their home territories in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. These valuable recordings are not immersive soundscapes but single-species sounds, ready to be dropped into your project with minimal preparation. Whenever possible, both processed and unprocessed versions of each species are included.
A select set of soundscapes from around the Pacific Northwest includes active and quiet sessions, dawn and dusk choruses, and may be stereo or quad depending on the situation.
All proceeds will go to benefit three different charities. My share will go to Conservation Northwest, www.conservationnw.org/, an organization with a mission to protect wildlands, connect habitats, and restore wildlife throughout the Pacific Northwest from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies.
Contribute at Thomas' online shop here: https://thomasrexbeverly.com/products/the-soundscape-fund-2025

please note: the following playlist is not fully representative of this year's reward as I just toss tracks on SoundCloud in a haphazard fashion as I feel like it. Names and select tracks may change in order to provide the best selection I can while also providing detailed metadata fully compatible with UCS 8.x. I'll update the playlist over the next week as more tracks are prepared. Happy listening and good luck!

Bird Species in this library (and heard in this preview) may include:
American Goldfinch
American Robin
Barred Owl
Black-capped Chickadee
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Brewer's Blackbird
Brewer's Sparrow
Brown Creeper
Brown Thrasher
Canyon Wren
Chipping Sparrow
Cliff Swallow
Common Loon
Common Nighthawk
Common Poorwill
Common Raven
Dark-eyed Junco
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Hutton's Vireo
Marsh Wren
Mourning Dove
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Pacific Wren
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Red-winged Blackbird
Rock Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Ruffed Grouse
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
Steller's Jay
Swainson's Thrush
Tree Swallow
Varied Thrush
Western Meadowlark
Western Wood-pewee
White-crowned Sparrow
Willow Flycatcher
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Yellow-headed Blackbird

The Soundscape Fund 2025 Preview - Northwest Voices

Compulsion Games sent me into Southern swamps and wilderness to record swamp ambiences, insects, frogs, and birds for their upcoming game South of Midnight. This is just a taste of what I got to listen to...

Day transitions to night through dusk in the Atchafalaya Basin on a hot summer evening. Swamp Cicadas, Walker's Cicadas, Dog Day Cicadas, Black Legged Meadow Katydids, Common Katydids, Cricket Frogs, Green Tree Frogs, Green Frogs, and more come and go throughout.

Atchafalaya Swamp  Basin, Summer, 2022-08-02, Dusk Transition

A long soundscape across Dawn in the Queets River Valley rainforest of the Olympic National Park. Starting in Astronomical Twilight, a small herd of Roosevelt Elk walks in from a distance, though a small forest glade, an away towards the Queets River bed.

Early Autumn rainfall and dropping Maple Leaves are the dominant sounds to begin, their pak-pak-spaks are a reminder that time passes, even in the still quiet of a moss-covered forest.

Highway 101 in less than 12 miles away, and distant traffic is funneled up the Valley, showing the difficulty of escaping human-generated sound. This has been mitigated somewhat with light processing, but close listening and inspection will make remnants evident. There are no other edits or processes committed.

I love the crisp cold air of the rainforests in the fall. Sounds, natural and human generated, carry into the distant. Tucked into my sleeping bag, I lay back in my small tent, listening to the forest awaken. Where once there was just the soft distant wash of the river, the elk are joined by the local birds. Steller's Jays shriek their song with grating-yet-amusing "CHA-CHA-CHA-CHAs". A Northern Saw-whet toots in the forest canopy. Young Varied Thrush practice their songs, not quite reaching the beautiful and haunting signature fluting of their predecessors, instead emitting a silly buzzer-bell-like noise. Pacific Wren singing at the end of their season and the occasional Kingfisher make an appearance as well. Noe of these complete with the sheer vibrance of the elk.

Roosevelt Elk or Roosevelt's Wapiti or Rainforest Elk are the largest remaining elk species in North America and thrive in shadowy silences of the Pacific Northwest's temperate rainforests. Bull's bugles and roars echo through the trees, becoming one of the signature sounds of the Olympic Mountains. The cows mew and squeal in return, listening for one another to not wander far astray.

The small herd is a tight-nit family group, a with one, maybe two, dominant bulls, five or six cows in their harem, and a handful of young. The dominant bull leads the group on a daily hike, down from the upper valley to the river and back again. Their bugles urge the group, both signaling the direction to go and scolding those that dawdle. As they pass through the glade, their heavy footfall on the vegetative floor thump-thump-thumps their presence as much as the vocalizations and the continued crushing of vegetation as they push by.

I can't get enough of their energy. They pull back frequently. No matter how many times I encounter them, Elk never cease to awe me.

Click through the comments below for some highlights!

Northwest Soundscapes

Queets River Valley Rainforest Dawn with Roosevelt Elk

A sample of frog voice recordings contained in Northwest Soundcapes' "Northwest Voices" and "Southwest Voices" libraries, all recorded by Andy Martin

image credit: Northwest Soundscapes, LLC

Northwest Voices

Tree Frogs - Pacific Chorus Frog, duo calls 02

A recent Spring Dawn in the Queets Rainforest inside the Olympic National Park
The air is cool and the light is filtered through a canopy of Sitka Spruce and Douglas Fir, Pacific Chorus Frogs crowded in an ephemeral wet-spot seemingly don't know if it's day or night as they sing around the clock here. The river sounds like a soft pillow in the distance, a dull roar that is more comforting than disturbing, fading away behind a biophonic meditation.

As twilight dawns with First light, local birds join the the chorus with the frog. Varied Thrushes with their nasally mysterious alarm-like cry. Pacific Wrens who seemingly believe that everyone needs to hear what they have to say. Song Sparrows with some of the happiest song ever to delight. A Chestnut-backed Chickadee that inspects the microphones, pulling little tufts of the wind protection to pad a nest. Northern Flickers and Chipmunks compete to see who has the best chatter.

All the while, the frogs continue on in cycles of chorused and cycles of silence, punctuated only by the occasional encounter trill or inquiring contact croak.

Queets Rainforest, Vernal Dawn Chorus With Frogs

Roosevelt Elk, or Rainforest Elk or Olympic Elk, selected from a brief trip in late September 2023.

Recorded in the Queets and Quinalt Rainforest River Valleys, there's often an unavoidable distant wash of river in the background, so each example is very lightly processed with the unprocessed source immediately following.

I record elk by leaving recorders out in the field where herds are known to migrate. Occasionally I'm able to follow a herd and record more direct, but I do not want to alarm the herd or stress them unnecessarily, so I often avoid this method.

Bugles are multi-toned calls that start low and transition into a scream. During the rut season, Bulls use this to express dominance over other males, warding off potential rivals, and attract potential mates. Outside of the rut they will often bugle when leading a herd.

Chuckles, or laughs, sound just like that, a series of short loud grunts. Like bugles, chuckles are used as a form of dominance and attraction call. I've often heard them used when a bull is specifically calling his harem to gather. They'll produce chuckles on their own, or sometimes tag them onto the end of a bugle.

image credit: "Roosevelt Elk Bugling-Unknown" by Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?

Roosevelt Elk Bugle with low chesty roar

Spectacled Owl, Pulsatrix perspicillata
calling from a nearby perch in the pre-Dawn Astronomical Twilight of 2023-12-04

Family: Strigidae

The softly pulsating song of the Spectacled Owl is a common voice in the nighttime chorus of Neotropical forests throughout Middle America

Excerpt from a long soundscape recording from San Gerardo Biological Station in Provincia Guanacaste, Costa Rica

image credit: "búho de anteojos, spectacled owl" by Liam Steele is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=openverse.

AMNS Costa Rica

Spectacled Owl, Pulsatrix perspicillata

Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant, Lophotriccus pileatus

Family: Tyrannidae

The piecing-voiced Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant  ranges in high mountain forests throughout Middle America.

Excerpt  from a long soundscape recording from San Gerardo Biological Station in Provincia Guanacaste, Costa Rica, on the morning of 2023-12-04.

image credit: "scale-crested pygmy tyrant, scale-crested pygmy-tyrant" by Guy Babineau is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant 01

ScaleCrested PygmyTyrant 02

Song Wren, Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus

Family Troglodytidae

The mechanical, clunky song of the Song Wren, an inhabitant of lowland tropical rainforests of Middle America that is often seen foraging at higher elevations.

Excerpt  from a long soundscape recording from San Gerardo Biological Station in Provincia Guanacaste, Costa Rica, on the morning of 2023-12-04.

original - "song wren" by Dario Taraborelli is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Song Wren 01

I had the pleasure of spending the month of December 2023 recording in a few different jungle locations in Costa Rica. The experience was wonderful and inspiring. Most of the trip was spent on Osa Peninsula, in lodges that bordered Parque Nacional Corcovado (Corcovado National Park).

The peninsula and the park are recognized as one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, with 2.5% of the world's species represented, many of them endemic.

While the history of the park is fraught with controversy dating back to European colonization, the importance of conservation cannot be understated. 

My recordings are filled with wonderful moments that deserve to be heard. I'm parsing through everything, but I thought I'd start with one of my favorite, 90 minutes midnight insect chorusing. Growing up in the mid-Atlantic states of the US and with roots and time lived in the Deep South, few sounds bring me to a state of transcendence like the orchestrated song of insects at night. The spectrally tight but densely-layered score of hundreds or thousands of insects in concert is soothing to the ears and the best sleep-aid I can experience for myself. From time to time hungry bats flutter past.

Normally I'd point out a few voices along the way, but I'm out of my depth when it comes to identifying insects in neotropical forests, so I'll let the ecosystem speak for itself.

Recorded at Finca Sueño De Osa Lodge, Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica

Parque Nacional Corcovado https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corcovado_National_Park

Interested in my recordings? Contact me here: https://linktr.ee/AndyMartinNatureSound

Costa Rica Midnight Insect Chorus near Corcavado

I got to spend December 2023 recording in several jungle locations in Costa Rica. The experience was wonderful and inspiring. Most of the trip was spent on Osa Peninsula, in lodges that bordered Parque Nacional Corcovado (Corcovado National Park). With nearly 2.5% of the world's species represented, many of them endemic, it is  recognized as one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet.

On the same morning as the previous  Midnight Chorus recording https://soundcloud.com/soundeziner/cr-fincasueno-midnightchorus, a troop of Golden Mantled Howler Monkeys greeted the Dawn and their neighbors (and the rest of the jungle) the only way they know how. Male mantled howlers have an enlarged hyoid bone, a hollow amplifying bone near their vocal cords that gives the ability to generate great "howling"  calls that can heard for kilometers.  Howling allows the monkeys to exercise territory and remain in contact  without expending energy through movement or bearing the risks of physical confrontation. As someone who likes little more than sitting in a forest listening to nature speak, I approve of this lazing behavior.

While this howling is their most well-known vocal characteristic, I'm rather fond of the popping and grunting that warms up to the howl and pads the time in between. It's relatively quiet, and is most noticeable only when near the vocalizing howler. The best description of it that I can think of is like the "vocal fry" not uncommon in many of today's pop singers. Check it out near the start of the first round of howling around 2:40 (link in the comments)

After a first round of loud howls, the group takes a break. With what is known about Mantled Howler activity, they're likely sleeping, or maybe eating. After 20-is minutes, they pick up again for a brief session before settling back down. It's possible they've been moving during this time as they're quieter during this round. Finally, just before Sunrise at 05:38 in the morning, they pick up again, slowly building and then tapering off after nearly 30 minutes of vocal exercising.

After speaking with other recordists, I know I am far from alone as someone who loves their sound, but I I may be one of the few that enjoys waking up to their calls. Every morning I heard this in the distance or nearby was a morning I walked out to breakfast with a big silly grin on my face.

Another voice that has become a personal favorite is the Yellow-throated Toucan, with their rhythmic, bouncing song that seems to carry on forever. There is at least one singing for most of this recording, but you can get your first good listen behind the Howlers at 53:27 or skip ahead to 1:06:02 to hear two singing at each other.

Hummingbirds are abundant, and you'll hear their buzzing wings fly by and around the microphones numerous times. Also coming and going are raucous and noisy Scarlet Macaws and Red-lored Parrots, a lone Red-eyed Tree Frog, a visiting Little Tinamou, and more. 

I'll point out a few voices along the way in the comments, but I'm out of my depth when it comes to identifying neotropical birds, so I'll largely let the ecosystem speak for itself. Feel free to poke around with links in the comments to scoot around the recording, or just let it play out over your morning coffee like I do.

Feel like seeing some fancy colors? I've been playing at visualizing soundscapes lately. Check out the video for this recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/duxU2INkyXI?si=xhIrgiHiOSOk922l

AMNS Costa Rica 01

Golden Mantled Howlers at Dawn

Red-eyed Vireo, Vireo olivaceus

A common breeding songbird in the woodlands of eastern North America, but found throughout the Pacific Northwest.

This delightful little singer was recorded on Summer Solstice, 2024, in Sinlahekin Valley in the Okanogan high country of Washington State in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

Cleaned and original parabolic source

image credit: "Red-eyed Vireo Female" by ksblack99 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Red-eyed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo, Vireo olivaceus

A common breeding songbird in the woodlands of eastern North America, but found throughout the Pacific Northwest.

This delightful little friend was recorded on Summer Solstice, 2024, in Sinlahekin Valley in the Okanogan high country of Washington State in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

Cleaned and original parabolic source

Image credit: "Red-eyed Vireo" by U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Appropriately named after the brilliant gemstone Lapis Lazuli, the Lazuli Bunting is a persistent singer throughout it's range during breeding season.

Each male has its own distinct song, usually "crystalized" around two years of age. During their first hatching season, young males may babble experimental notes, but they do not learn from their fathers. Instead, they copy and interpret snippets of song from other adult males beginning their second season, developing their own unique phenology. This crystalizes into a single song unique to that male but part of a "song neighborhood" with other males hatched and fledged in the same breeding territory.

Conspicuously perched and showing off their brilliant blue colors, males sing dawn through dusk.

Recorded in Sinlahekin Valley on Summer Solstice 2024, this is but one male of many that filled the morning air with beauty. Listen to another recorded nearby here: https://on.soundcloud.com/UjtQYDknPNdseKrx5

More about the Lazuli Bunting on eBird: https://ebird.org/species/lazbun

image credit: "923 - LAZULI BUNTING (4-27-11) paton's, patagonia, az (1)" by Sloalan is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Lazuli Bunting on Summer Solstice

Appropriately named after the brilliant gemstone Lapis Lazuli, the Lazuli Bunting is a persistent singer throughout it's range during breeding season.

Each male has its own distinct song, usually "crystalized" around two years of age. During their first hatching season, young males may babble experimental notes, but they do not learn from their fathers. Instead, they copy and interpret snippets of song from other adult males beginning their second season, developing their own unique phenology. This crystalizes into a single song unique to that male but part of a "song neighborhood" with other males hatched and fledged in the same breeding territory.

Conspicuously perched and showing off their brilliant blue colors, males sing dawn through dusk.

Recorded in Sinlahekin Valley on Summer Solstice 2024, this is but one male of many that filled the morning air with beauty. Listen to another recorded nearby here: https://on.soundcloud.com/yJ7Ssa34uUxojzKZA

More about the Lazuli Bunting on eBird: https://ebird.org/species/lazbun

image credit: "BUNTING, LAZULI (4-29-11) sonoita creek state natural area, scc, az -01b" by Sloalan is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Common Nighthawks, Chordeiles minor, circle around in long, swirling loops when courting mates. They call repeatedly with a nasal "peent", interrupted occasionally by a short dive, tucking their wings in to create a spectacular "boom" as the air rushes through their feathers. Being a largely crepuscular behavior, it is more often heard rather than seen. It much of rural North America this is a twilight sound of early Dawn and late Dusk.

In one of my favorite places to record, the arid Seep Lakes of Central Washington, the Nighthawks cruise low, often below the lips of the coulees that dot the region. Their booms and calls echo off the canyon walls. One evening, on a "rooftop coulee" (a coulee on a stack), this little bird buzzed me for over an hour. Here's just a tiny snippet.

Something I hadn't noticed until recently is the call they make at the start of a dive is staccato, slightly punctuated, as if they're saying "Hey! Lookitthis!" or maybe "Wheee!"


Also on #YouTube Nighthawk On TheRooftop
https://youtu.be/dJEsOaGgPBI where you can see fancy spectrogram squiggles and a picture of the coulee

Image credit:
"Common nighthawk at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge Wyoming" by USFWS Mountain Prairie is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Common Nighthawk Courtship Display

A short representative sample of Wood Duck recordings. Wood Ducks, Aix sponsa, are common ducks of swamps, marshes, and other riparian habitats in North America. Being the only duck to nest in tree cavities, they depends on the holes drilled by Pileated Woodpeckers, linking the survival of the woodpecker to the success of the duck to best and breed.
Noisy and loud, females have multiple calls but their signature all-purpose contact call  "ooo-eek" is the most familiar, and once heard it's hard to forget..
These birds are low-flyers and often the last to return home at dusk after a day of dispersed foraging. I've been in swamps where it seemed like I was being buzzed by an endless stream of screeching Wood Ducks, flying by mere feet above my head.

Each recording here is in two parts -- the first is isolated, clean, and ready for implementation in a media project. The latter half is the sound in its musty, noisy original state.

Wood Ducks move around and do not call continuously. Calls are collected and strung together in order-of-occurrence, grouped by individual, then by like-type.

Read more here: https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/wooduc/cur/introduction

All sound is originally recorded by me.
The image is used by cc: "Male Wood Duck" by U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?ref=openverse

I record wildlife and soundscapes for living! Birds are one of my specialties, along with frogs and insects. If you would like to license something you hear on my SoundCloud, inquire about other recordings in my deep library, or discuss recording something specific, send me a message (link in bio). Heck, if you just want to chat about nature sounds and birds, feel free to send me a message!


Wood Duck, Female Flight Calls (AMNS387156)

Wood Duck, Female Contact Calls 01 (AMNS163145)

Wood Duck, Male Squeals (AMNS126680)

Wood Duck, Female Advertisement Calls (AMNS730521)

A short representative sample of Wood Duck recordings. Wood Ducks, Aix sponsa, are common ducks of swamps, marshes, and other riparian habitats in North America. Being the only duck to nest in tree cavities, they depends on the holes drilled by Pileated Woodpeckers, linking the survival of the woodpecker to the success of the duck to best and breed.
Noisy and loud, females have multiple calls but their signature all-purpose contact call "ooo-eek" is the most familiar, and once heard it's hard to forget..
These birds are low-flyers and often the last to return home at dusk after a day of dispersed foraging. I've been in swamps where it seemed like I was being buzzed by an endless stream of screeching Wood Ducks, flying by mere feet above my head.

Each recording here is in two parts -- the first is isolated, clean, and ready for implementation in a media project. The latter half is the sound in its musty, noisy original state.

Wood Ducks move around and do not call continuously. Calls are collected and strung together in order-of-occurrence, grouped by individual, then by like-type.

Read more here: birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/woo…ur/introduction

All sound is originally recorded by me.
The image is used by cc: "Male Wood Duck" by U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit creativecommons.org/publicdomain/ma…/?ref=openverse

I record wildlife and soundscapes for living! Birds are one of my specialties, along with frogs and insects. If you would like to license something you hear on my SoundCloud, inquire about other recordings in my deep library, or discuss recording something specific, send me a message (link in bio). Heck, if you just want to chat about nature sounds and birds, feel free to send me a message!


Wood Duck, Female Contact Calls 02 (AMNS368449)

Seattle has an airport in the heart of the city: a water-port for the seaplanes of Kenmore Air. Their fleet consists primarily of DHC-2 Beavers and DHC-3 Turbo-Otters. Beavers, such as this one, have piston-drive engines, and really sell that great old-clanky-propeller-plane sound that is matched only by a fleet of Harley Davidsons.
SD702
Mid: MKH8060
Side: MKH30  

de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver startup, taxi

TRUE FROGS - AMERICAN BULLFROG - Lithobates catesbeianus
A small-but-growing colony chorusing at night in the Promontory Ponds of Seattle's Warren G. Magnuson Park. American Bullfrogs are a destructive invasive species in the western States of the US. That a colony has managed to take up residence and thrive in an urban nature preserve is highly alarming.
The focus is shifting, moving between individual frogs in the foreground, with others audible in the background between roars. It's frustrating dealing with Bullfrogs. I love them. It's not their fault they were introduced to the Western States. They just live their lives as they come. Their ecological impact is significant, affecting population numbers of entire species of native frogs and fishes.
image credit: "Bullfrog_Nick Myatt 02" by Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit creativecommons.org/publicdomain/ma…/?ref=openverse.

True Frogs - American Bullfrog, invasive colony

A powerful thunderstorm moves in across the swamp. Deep booming thunder drives the insects, birds, and frogs to seek shelter. Sheets of rain whip the trees and understory plants. Hard thunderous cracks mingle with a steady downpour. This is the power of the sky when it meets the Earth.

Summer Thunderstorm 4 of 4 - in transition, Powerful cracks of thunder, deep rolls, and transients sheets of rain begin to yield back to the singing voices of the swamp

Summer Thunderstorm 1 of 4 - Incoming Ominous Deep Rolling Thunder

Summer Thunderstorm 2 of 4 - Incoming Deep Rolling Thunder gives way to rain

Summer Thunderstorm 3 of 4 - Powerful cracks of thunder and sheets of rain, birds and insects test the air

Scaly-breasted Wren,  Microcerculus marginatus, née Southern Nightingale-wren, more likely heard than seen, this tiny bird spends its time on the floors of humid rainforests, hopping quietly, but singing brightly. Its loud, cheerful song consists of bright, clear, pure tones with seemingly random pitch, volume, rhythm, and length variation. Alternately slow-and-steady and fast-paced-and-frenetic, it never ceases to surprise.

Early in the morning of August 20, 2025, this particular fellow decided my microphones would be the chosen audience for this out-of-the-blue yet clear and beautiful song.

As usual, an isolated version is included for detail, but this time AFTER the source recording itself.

For the technique curious, this was hour 23 of a 48 hour recording in the mid-elevation transition zone Amazon Rainforest at Manu BioStation in the Andes Mountain Foothills.
For the technically curious, this was recorded with a Zoom F3 with Oaka Verdi (copper version) microphones.

"scaly-breasted wren, southern nightingale-wren" by Adam Jackson is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Learn more about Scaly-breasted Wrens at eBird: https://ebird.org/species/scbwre1

Like my recordings? To hear more or license bird sounds for your project, feel free to message me directly in SoundCloud or click on one of my too-many social media buttons. If you feel like fueling my activities, feel free to buy me a Ko-Fi, at https://ko-fi.com/northwestsoundscapes Happy Listening!

This recording also appears:
iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/312773406
Macaulay Library/ eBird https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/641624556
Xeno-Canto https://xeno-canto.org/1037518

Scaly-breasted Wren,  Microcerculus marginatus

I spent a night in a bed of moss, listening to the sounds of Springtime Alaskan boreal taiga in the twilight. Nearby swam a pair of loons. A beaver circled, territorially slapping the water with its tail.
I smiled and listened.

Location: Long Lake, Talkeetna, AK

Weather: variable over the course of the night, 49-61°F, light to no wind, humidity rose from 31-52%

Geophony: Clear lake in a hilly boreal taiga, dominated by White Spruce, Bird, and thick beds of diverse mosses

Anthrophony: myself @90 feet, distant ambient generators (most of which I’ve edited out)

Biophony: Common Loon (Gavia Immer), Swainson’s Thrush (Catharus Ustulatus), American Robin (Turdus migratorius), other birds I don’t recognize, Beaver, insects (mostly white flies & mosquitos), river otter (visible, but silent)

For the gear curious:
stereo downmix from double mid-side
mid channels: MKH8040x2
side channel: MKH30
recorder: Zaxcom MAXX

Common Loon - Gavia Immer - wail

This one may only be of general interest to my fellow North American field recordists. There's a bird we hear *all*the*time* yet, when early in our careers we often confuse it with a "distant generator thumping". Yes. The Ruffed Grouse.
Also called the "Fool's Hen" for it's propensity for not running quickly away when approached, leading one to feel like you can catch it if you're quick enough. Inevitably it darts off just before caught.
During mating season, the male Ruffed Grouse declares its territory and availability by finding a log to sit on. On a period of every five to twelve minutes it rapidly fluffs its feathers and pounds the log to produce a low rapid thump that can carry for quite some distance.

It continues to do this for five to to twelve hours at a time if undisturbed. Making the only later evidence of its presence just a collection of drying fecal drops on the Chosen Log.

In most recordings it rarely rises above 100 Hz. When just 50 feet (15 meters) away, it still feels more like a thumping pressure than a sound you think you actually hear.

I was recently out recording for a few days when I heard the tell-tale thump. Later, on a walk around the campsite, I heard a disturbed rustle and just glimpsed a Ruffed Grouse hopping off its log. Confirming it with the tell-tale poop drops I though, "Here's my chance to show its more than just an amusing generator stand-in".

I snuck a pair of small omni microphones in around 1900, placing one about two feet above the poop and one off to the side, just in case it moved around. I hit record on my hidden recorder and wandered off to bed. I heard thumping throughout the night, so I was certain I got something. I wasn't quite prepared for a ten-hour performance, though.

This clip is from somewhere around 4am. Unfiltered, unmastered, no leveling. It’s merely time-edited so you don't get bored just... waiting... for... the... next... drumming. If you like that feeling of boredom, here’s the un-edited version: https://on.soundcloud.com/pOdK8uX8DZ5hjWuy4p

Channel one/ Left is the "side" omni, which also got a lot of the roominess of the log itself. Channel two/ Right was right on target and just a few inches above the bird's head.

For more info on Ruffed Grouse and other recordings, photos, and VIDEO, check out the Cornell Library's entry here:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruffed_Grouse/

For the technically-curious, gear used: microphones and recorder. If you're really, truly interested, feel free to message me directly.

Ruffed Grouse - Bonasa umbellus - male drumming, edited

I was asked recently to provide a few select examples of elk bugling and realized I've never made an attempt to master or isolate some of my favorites. I've included them here.

Elk - Male bugle, scream and laugh

In the still, quiet night air of the Olympic National Park's  Queets Rain Forest river valley, a lone Barred Owl sings from a nearby tree. It's voice echoing off the majestic trees of this old-growth rain forest, it calls longingly, awaiting an answer from the darkness that may never come.

Barred Owl, Strix Varia

A lone Grey Wolf howls in the late morning, losing itself to the natural reverb of a glacial valley

Grey Wolves were all but extirpated from Washington early in the last century. They've been on a slow but steady recovery now for decades. While still a species of high concern in the Northwest, occasions of hearing their mournful cries are thankfully becoming more and more common.

This is not without controversy, unfortunately, as ranchers fear their livelihoods will be destroyed and hunters express concern over the competition for game animals. My general feeling is this is good, however. The mass numbers of humanity living in former wolf territory and the introduction of highly destructive and invasive farm and game animals such as cattle, pigs, chickens, bullfrogs, pheasant, etc, have had long-lasting, oft-permanent destructive consequences on our ecological systems. That wolves are able to reclaim some territory on their own despite the historical effort to eliminate them is a testimony to their tenacity as a species.

The challenges are great, though, and humanity does not make it easy for other apex predators to survive in a world we claim as our own to despoil at will. Wolves need help all around North America. To help recovery efforts and the benefits they can provide, consider supporting a conservation effort such as The International Wolf Center https://wolf.org or a sanctuary and rehabilitation center such as Wolf Haven International https://wolfhaven.org. For more information on their spread and recovery in Washington, read this informational pamphlet from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife https://bit.ly/2NvfgXW

image credit: "File:Grey Wolf Portrait.jpg" by Jean Beaufort is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en?ref=openverse.

Lone Wolf Howls

Field Recordist / Sound designer
Shhhhh. Listening to nature.

To license sounds or for all other inquiries: info@andymartinsound.com

#naturesound #naturesoundscape #fieldrecording #naturesounds #savequiet #listentonature #soundscape

Andy Martin, Field Recordist

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