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 $12,676 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, and Alaska 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. 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: thomasrexbeverly.com/collections/sound-libraries/products/giving-contest-2024

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!

Giving Contest 2024

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

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 $12,676 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, and Alaska 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. 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: thomasrexbeverly.com/collections/so…g-contest-2024

2024 Giving Contest Preview - Northwest Soundscapes

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 $12,676 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, and Alaska 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. 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.

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: thomasrexbeverly.com/collections/so…g-contest-2024

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

2024 Giving Contest Preview - Northwest Voices

Colockum Pass, Naneum Reserve, Kittitas County, WA, rare tunderstorm booms on the eastern slope of Cascade Mountains, dry thunder, 2019-08-10

Edited for time. Thunderstorms are pretty long.

Recorded in the beautiful Pacific Northwest in Washington, WA, United States

Thunder Dry Rolling Mountain Booms

Colockum GMU, Kittitas Country, WA, midnight rain in a dry raiparian creek, dry scrub land surrounds

Recorded in the Beautiful Pacific Northwest

Northwest Soundscapes

Rain on Scrubland

Still air in a cool late Spring night in a temperate deciduous forest, quiet air broken only by a calling Barred Owl, Strix varia, echoing through the forest, mastered stereo mixdown from original quad Tree Ears recording with UsiPro for the front and a Clippy EM272 pair for the rear

This is a very still, very quiet recording. In person you would not be able to detect even the still air. If you hear a bare hint of it in your speakers be careful not to turn up your volume as the owl will be much, much louder.

Recorded in the beautiful Pacific Northwest in Washington, United States

AMBForst Deciduous Forest Quiet Still Night With Owl

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.

AMNS Costa Rica

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

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

Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant 01

Andy Martin, Field Recordist