A pair of bats, hanging above the mics, clicked and vocalized at swallows whenever they got too close

Brewer's Blackbird, Euphagus cyanocephalus, song variant 1, like a squeaky door hinge on the right

Brewer's Blackbird, Euphagus cyanocephalus, song variant 2 on the right sounds like a film camera auto-winding

Common Yellowthroat, Geothlypis trichas, they always sound like high-anxiety parents looking for children on a playground, "Where are you Where Are You WHERE ARE YOU. Oh there"

Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, once they find a perch to sing from they'll stay there as long as possible

Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta, far in the background and only really noticeable when there's a lull in activity, this Meadowlark had the whole grass area to himself

Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, it wouldn't be a wetland in North America without their "conk-la-ree" songs everywhere

Female Red-winged Blackbirds also have a song, but a chattering vocalization and an almost aggressive-sounding "growl". Here one responds on the right to the dominant male of the territory.

Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps, with whooping follow-through, it often seems like once they get started they have a hard time finishing

Lovely recording Andy, appreciate the annotations too.

A collection of Dawn and Dusk Choruses from the Okanogan region of Washington State.

Okanogan Joy

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

Recently I had the pleasure to spend several days recording on the wonderfully-named Skull and Crossbones Ridge in the Loomis Natural Resources Conservation Area in Okanogan County. The ridge marks a fascinating intermix of three dominant habitats in the NRCA: subalpine wet meadow, mountain sagebrush scrub, and forest consisting of Lodgepole Pine, Subalpine Fir, and Alpine Larch.

Due to an approaching ridge of low pressure, it was fairly windy all day, every day, but there were a few distinct moments of still air. Surprisingly, and delightfully, one of those moments was across the Dawn (First Light to Sunrise) period. Because I haven't shared a long recording recently, the first track in this playlist is a "Long Dawn". Being just after Summer Solstice, First Light was at 0409 on this day, 2021 June 25. The recording itself begins in near-silence at 0341, with the first local bird voice coming from an awakening American Robin about 15s in. Most of the nearby nesters have dispersed well-before sunrise at 0457, but the mountain winds were beginning their return. I let the recording continuer nearly another half-hour until 0526 to hear the onrush of cooler mountain flowing across the ridge.

Some of the many voices you'll hear in this recording are American Robins, Chipping Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Brewer's Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Washington Ground Squirrels, Clark's Nutcrakers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Swainson's Thrushes, a Western Wood Pewee, possibly a Vesper Sparrow, and also quite possibly me coughing from a distance of around 250 feet (76m) because I just can't keep myself quiet.

On an enjoyment note, because we're currently undergoing an historic once-in-a-thousand-years heatwave here in Seattle I was forced to lightly master these recordings on headphones whilst fans blast me from all angles in my little studio room.  I'm not suggesting that you should *only* listen to them on headphones, but they'll likely translate best that way. My mastering doesn't involve a whole lot of processing, mostly just some low-end control when it's extra-windy and critical choices about how to decode from double mid-side (my preferred recording method) to stereo for SoundCloud playback, but it's enough that listening on a nice set of headphones will give you a closer approximation of what I heard when I clicked "upload".

As always, if you like something you hear and would like to license it or something similar for use or simply download it for further listening enjoyment, feel free to reach out to me by direct messaging here on SoundCloud or clicking one of my far-too-many social media connections above.

Happy listening!

Northwest Soundscapes

Loomis NRCA Long Dawn

https://www.nts.live/shows/coby-sey/episodes/coby-sey-26th-july-2021

Coby Sey 260721

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

Fly To Def(NO0S TAKEOVER MINI MIX)

100% chilean mix by Russell 

Domingae - aennihilator (Sacred Bones)
Mucho Sueño - Transitar (All Centre)
Russell - somber night (Lbr Records)
B1 NEPA £TA OPH - CIN1( Kamila Govorcin remix )
Russell - unreleased
Aur3lius- pidulle
Imaabs- MORPH (NAAFI)
Mu-ga & Geodésica - Fantasma Geométrico
Russell - mandragora (absu.)
VNZO - Catastrofe
Mu-ga - Arreskni (absu)
Fantasna - tour al oasis (halcxn)
Nabucodonosor- Hctilg Lartsua (fat trax)
Masot - soliloquionocturno v3
Russell - del cielo rojo (lbr Records)
Vale suchi- Eschaton (mamba)

Material Chileno : Terroir Dealer invite Russell  - 11/02/2022

Sesiones Chakanais w/ Dj Chiakka

Two hours of ambient, drone and experimental music from Mexico-based record label Antimateria Sonora NYE celebration featuring Tahres One, Ansiedad Tóxica & KShakiro Nil recorded at "Festival Bahidora" in Mexico City.

IG: @tahres_one @ansiedadtoxica @shakiro_nil

www.thelotradio.com
www.instagram.com/thelotradio
www.facebook.com/thelotradio
www.twitter.com/thelotradio
@thelotradio

Antimateria Sonora with Tahres One, Ansiedad Tóxica & Shakiro Nil @ The Lot Radio 3.25.2022

Excerpts of field recordings made 2020 - 2022 in Ireland and France

1. Funachree Coast, Co. Galway. (00:00 - 01:06)
Seals Calling, Barnacles, Water

2. Abandoned Barn, Portaferry, Co. Down (01:06 - 01:52)
Derelict Barn Moved by Wind, Amplified Tree Branches

3. Chemin du Trieux, Paimpol, Bretagne (01:52 - 02:52)
Crickets

4. Trieux River, Paimpol, Bretagne (02:52 - 03:50)
Snapping Crustaceans, Low Frequency Pulses

5. Windmill Hill, Portaferry, Co. Down (03:50 - 04:29)
Amplified Fishing Wire Stretched Vertically inside Windmill Tower

6. Trieux River, Paimpol, Bretagne (04:29 - 04:59)
Crab Eating a Periwinkle

7. Trieux River Port, Paimpol, Bretagne (04:59 - 05:34)
2 Pipes Resonating from Wind and Water


Equipment used:
DPA 4060 Microphones
Sound Devices MixPre6 Recorder
Aquarian H2A Hydrophone
JrF D Hydrophones
AKG C417 Microphones

Photograph by Louise Le Du at Funachree Coast in Co. Galway

Louise Le Du & Michael Speers Field Recording Excerpts

Guest mix from Andra Nikolayi aka Opal Opal from Romania of manele noi aka new manele. Manele is the Roma pop music genre that’s wildly popular on Youtube and lowkey everywhere else in the country yet banned from official channels like radio, TV or hip bars/clubs and recently reclaimed by the local queer community. 

https://www.nts.live/shows/christopher-kirkley/episodes/christopher-kirkley-15th-december-2022

Autotune the World w/ Opal Opal 151222

Playlist and other information available at: https://www.freeformfreakout.com/fffoxy-podcast-217-adam-bohman-feature/

**This episode includes an interview with Adam Bohman**

FFFoxy Podcast #217: Adam Bohman feature

Ya puedes disfrutar de la primera emisión en vivo de "El Propio RadioShow" de Diegors. En esta vibrante selección musical de primavera, suenan muchas de las canciones favoritas de Diegors, así como algunos 'timeless' trax: canciones antiguas que hoy siguen siendo sorprendentes, junto con nuevas composiciones que evocan la magia de la música de los años 80 y 90s !!

Tectónica Radio - El Propio Radio Show 007 por Diegors

While taking my college-aged child on a 2020 quarantine-fueled road trip of some of my favorite recording places, we were gifted by the world with this beautiful Dawn Chorus near Forde Lake.

From the 0419 am First light through Sunrise, I wanted to know what the dawn sounded like to a tree. Hanging a pair of small omni in "tree ears" fashion about 6 feet up in a young Ponderosa Pine, we discovered that Lazuli Bunting and Spotted Towhee were in extreme abundance in the immediately proximate area. In the distance you can hear a variety of other voices, including California Quail, Ring-necked Pheasant, Sparrows of several varieties, Thrushes, Warblers, and my new favorite singer, the Yellow-breasted Chat.

Sinlahekin Tree Ears, 2020-07-02

While taking my college-aged child on a 2020 quarantine-fueled road trip of some of my favorite recording places, we were gifted by the world with this beautiful Dawn Chorus at Forde Lake.

From the 0419 am First light through Sunrise we listen to the world wake up through the canopy of deciduous coverage near the slow-moving Sinlahekin Creek. Light rain briefly patters on Quaking Aspen and Maple above and big leaf ground foliage below, and a wind tousles the leafs with a papery-breath.

This location was a favorite of several local Yellow-breasted Chat, but even they can't drown out the Wilson's Snipe, California Quail, and Veery.

Sinlahekin Dawn Chorus, 2020-07-01

While taking my college-aged child on a 2020 quarantine-fueled road trip of some of my favorite recording places, we were gifted by the world with this beautiful and dense Dawn Chorus at Long Swamp.

Starting in Astronomical Twilight at 0353 am, 23 minutes before First Light, and running through 40 minutes after Sunrise, this track features a wetland shrub area in Long Swamp and faint water burbles from Long Swamp Creek, while distant wash from drainage near campground provides a stable bed. The stage is set for a dense chorus that really get going around 10 minutes in. Included in the roster of voices and sounds are Olive-sided Flycatcher, Willow Flycatcher, Western Wood Pewee, Wilson's Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow Warbler, American Robin, Hermit Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Lincoln's Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Warbling Vireo, Wilson's Snipe

Long Swamp Dawn Chorus, 2020-06-30

FIRST 30MINS - PESSIMIST
SECOND 30MINS - DJ PYTHON
15/10/20

Pessimist And That w/ DJ Python - Noods Radio - EPISODE 9

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

Okanogan Wetland Morning

Andy Martin, Field Recordist

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Andy Martin, Field Recordist

Andy Martin, Field Recordist

Andy Martin, Field Recordist

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