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

On the shore of the Lac du Der at night, a talkative Red fox meets a pack of responsive Common cranes.

Recorded with Mélia Roger on November 5th 2022 around 9:30pm.

Lom Usi Pro AB in PCM M10
Drop rig excerpt.

Illustration : Grues trompettant, Robert Hainard

Cranes and Fox dialogue - Mélia Roger & Grégoire Chauvot

Superb Lyrebird calling in the early morning, not long after dawn, in the Jamison Valley. This particular area of the Jamison Valley is on the slopes of the Narrow Neck Plateau and is covered in lush, wet sclerophyll forest, which borders a small pocket of rainforest.
Some of the birds the lyrebird mimics in this performance are: Laughing Kookaburra, Satin Bowerbird, Eastern Whipbird, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Lewin's Honeyeater, Pied Currawong, Crimson Rosella, Pilotbird, Australian King Parrot. Many of the odd sounds it makes are pure Lyrebird calls as they do have their own unique repertoire. 
In the background you can hear many Bell Miners twinkling.
November, 2014.

Superb Lyrebird In The Jamison Valley, Blue Mountains

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

18 May 2024

Rustic Bunting breeds in swamp forests in the northern Palearctic boreal region. It is a long-distance migrant with Fennoscandian birds overwintering in eastern Asia. There has been a strong range-wide population decline in RB and it has been classified as globally threatened. In recent years there are hopeful signs of a stabilization in population numbers, at least locally. 

Rustic Bunting is one of my favourite birds, and I have spent many hours searching them home and abroad. The best time to find them is in May upon arrival when they are most actively singing. One should preferrably listen in the early morning hours, even before sunrise. I compiled a sequel of sound clips recorded during the same morning in an attempt to capture the Rustic Bunting soundscape.

Clip #1 Setting the scene. Early morning hour and still pretty dark and damp in the swamp forest. Mics placed as tree ears close to a calmly floating creek. RB has been singing since sunrise and is now joined by Eurasian Siskin, Song and Mistle Thrush and Cuckoo. #2 Closing in, thirty minutes later. The singing choir has multiplied, and one can now also hear Redwing, Willow Warbler, Black Woodpecker, Brambling and Common Redstart. #3 Close range. The singing RB male exposes its rusty coloured breast, perched high in a birch with a displaying Wood Sandpiper in the background. Stereo-mounted mics in a parabolic dish.

Botsmark, Umeå commune, Västerbotten County (64.26 N, 20.14 E)

_00.15

Rustic Bunting – the gem of boreal swamp forests

Thirty years ago this was a species that only sang after 10 PM but nowadays it sings more and more often during daytime. This individual is mostly quiet during night-time but very active around noon. Perhaps this is a consequence that it is now a breeding species in Sweden, albeit still a rare bird.
June 11, 2024. Hågaån, Uppsala.

Wildtronics Parabolic Dish + Mixpre 3ii

Local Blyth's Reed Warbler singing at noon

I am on bandcamp.com now
Two Thrush Nightingales in song.  Recorded at night beginning at 2.05am on the 20th of May 2013, in Soomaa National Park, Estonia.  This is the third of three recordings.  Some months ago I uploaded this same recording but a shorter version in 44khz/16bit, this recording is the full-length 48Khz/24Bit version.  Equipment; A matched pair of Sennheiser MKH8020 microphones, a Sound Devices MixPre microphone pre-amp and a Marantz PMD661 solid state recorder.
Recording 2502.
To help you find my other albums, here is a list of the names of the albums as sound cloud is not structured in such a way as to make it easy to find material that is a long way down or at the bottom of the page, so it is easier to search for the albums if you know their names, here is a list.
Put any of these names in the search bar and press enter.  
Central America . . . Belize.
Garden of songs.  	Forest Home.	  Out of the blue.
Jungle report.	Wild enough.	  Na Luum Ca - revisited.

South America . . . Brazil.
Xixuau   (2 disc production).
South America . . . Guyana.
Karanambu.	   Iwokrama.
South America . . . Peru   (4 disc production).
Otorongo.     	  Tahuayo. 
Europe . . . Finland.
Natures Song.	  At the blue moment.
Europe . . . Estonia.
Soomaa.
Europe . . . Wales / Ireland.
Morning Birds 3.	
Europe . . . Ireland.
Morning Birds 1 and 2.	  The joy of birdsong.	  Birds of the great Saltee.   Saltee Revisited.		Songs of silence.		Aubade.
More Suburban Birds.		 Suburban Birds (This one was never uploaded to sound cloud).

2 Thrush Nightingales - The 48khz/24Bit version

For details : www.loiseauson.com/en/beaver01/
Pour détails : www.loiseauson.com/castor01/

Beaver & Common Loons - Castor & Plongeons huards

Large pig frogs lead the croaking chorus of multiple species searching for mates in the flooded saw grass prairie along PaHaOkee Road in Everglades National Park, Florida. Southern cricket frogs "clack-clack" in background.Wide stereo field recorded in ORTF with pair of Line Audio CM3 cardioid microphones feeding a Sound Devices MixPre 3 recorder. February 2018.

Pig Frogs Pa Hay Okee

The Garden Of Forking Paths

Rhododendrons

[Experiment] Trying the Shure MV88 mic on a iPhone for field recording (nature).   Not that I would want to do this very often, but it could be useful when better mics/recorders are not available in a given moment.   The photo shows the location where this recording was made (holding the iPhone, standing about 5 feet from the grass in lower middle of photo).

[Setup] Shure MV88 on an iPhone 10 with foam windscreen. Settings on app:  mid-side mode, max compression, flat EQ,   The quality is not bad for what it is.

The Shure MV88 is *not* a sensitive mic and certainly not great for nature field recording.  The manual even says it was designed to record in very loud environments like concerts, so it would not be good for recording a quiet soundscape.   However, for loud environments it seems OK.   These cricket frogs were so loud that I wore the headphones for ear protection even when not recording.  Without ear protection the frog calls were painfully loud (to give an idea of the ambient sound levels being recorded).

BTW, on an iPhone X I was not able to find a way to monitor audio while recording.  Gain was set by watching the meter on the app.  On phones that have plug-in headphones, apparently there is a way to monitor audio while recording.

iPhone field recording using Shure MV88 mic (frogs in forest)

I make field recordings focusing on nature in my home county Uppland, Sweden, and especially within biking distance from home.

Video on my main recording techniques: https://youtu.be/mDn_ysIi4UQ?si=W3ha7T9fyYEWG6lF

Here are some interviews on national public radio about my recordings (sorry, only in Swedish :) )
https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/nasten-bjod-pa-smaktande-gryningskor-under-fagelsangsnatten
https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/nu-kommer-ugglornas-tid
https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/att-lyssna-med-tradoron-utter-baver-och-tjader-som-du-aldrig-hort-dem-forut
https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/staren-som-sjunger-med-trettio-arters-roster

Local Blyth's Reed Warbler singing at noon

Bo Söderström

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