OUT ON ALL PLATFORMS: https://lnk.to/aquatic-ambience

aquatic ambience

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon In The Hands of Fate Kalimba

Exquisite dawn chorus featuring several Wood Thrushes sounding off at first light, with a gurgling brook nearby. Recorded at 5:15am, July 20, 2023 in Shindagin Hollow, near Brooktondale, New York. © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Please listen with headphones!

Wood Thrushes Singing at Dawn with Stream Gurgle

Wood Thrushes Singing At Dawn with Stream Gurgle

A pleasing dawn chorus recorded at Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area near Ithaca, NY. 21 May, 2016. Binaural - Please listen with headphones.

Prominent singers include Eastern Wood-Pewee, Mourning Dove, Wood Thrush, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Ovenbird. © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Woodland Medley

TOADS AT DAWN: American Toads trilling at Dawn. Recorded May 26, 2016 at 5:15am; Finger Lakes National Forest near Trumansburg, New York. © Lang Elliott.

Microphone: quasi-binaural SASS (Stereo Ambient Sampling System) modified for use with Sennheiser MKH20 mics.

COOL WEATHER over the last two weeks has put a damper on the breeding activities of American Toads. I’ve been hard-pressed to get a good recording of their trilling, or rather “dreaming” (see Thoreau quote below). But last week I finally had success when I came upon a small cluster of toads sounding off at the break of dawn against a pleasant backdrop of springtime bird songs.

Toad dreams are quite musical to the ear, at least when heard from a distance. My ear seems specially tuned to hear them … I often detect their trilling from a great distance, long before my companions notice it. It’s not that my hearing is more sensitive, but rather has to do with the tuning of my mind. Every spring I anticipate their calling. I listen carefully for it (though effortlessly), poised to catch even the weakest glimmer-of-a-trill, riding on the wave of a light breeze.

Henry David Thoreau was also well-tuned to hear the dream of the toads, as the following entry from his diary demonstrates (dated October 26, 1853):

"I well remember the time this year when I first heard the dream of the toads. I was laying out house-lots on Little River in Haverhill. We had had some raw, cold and wet weather. But this day was remarkably warm and pleasant, and I had thrown off my outside coat. I was going home to dinner, past a shallow pool, which was green with springing grass, and where a new house was about being erected, when it occurred to me that I heard the dream of the toad. It rang through and filled all the air, though I had not heard it once. And I turned my companion’s attention to it, but he did not appear to perceive it as a new sound in the air. Loud and prevailing as it is, most men do not notice it at all. It is to them, perchance, a sort of simmering or seething of all nature. That afternoon the dream of the toads rang through the elms by Little River and affected the thoughts of men, though they were not conscious that they heard it. How watchful we must be to keep the crystal well that we were made, clear!"

I particularly love Thoreau’s reference to “the crystal well that we were made.” This is deeply meaningful to me. In today’s frantic world, our receptors (= our “crystal wells”) are so easily clouded by the noisiness of both our minds and our machines. I am always striving to keep my well as clear as possible, so that I remain able to hear the first toad trill of the season, as it floats softly across the natural landscape. “Listen … do you hear the dream of the toads?”

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts about this wonderful music of nature.

Toads at Dawn

CRY-BABY TOADS: Woodhouse's Toads (Anaxyrus woodhousii)calling in a near-dry streambed at 11pm, 11 May 1993, at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Unit , North Dakota (near Grassy Butte). © Lang Elliott.

Microphone: quasi-binaural SASS (Stereo Ambient Sampling System) modified for use with Sennheiser MKH20 microphones.

WOODHOUSE'S TOADS are not the most beautiful of singers — their wailing calls easily upset one's ears. But this recording really does have "character," so I've decided to feature it here, even though it's not what I'd call an "easy-listening" soundscape. The nicest part is where the singer stutters his calls.  Listen also for the Boreal Chorus Frogs making creaking calls in the background, and the section where Coyotes are howling off in the distance.

Enjoy, at least if you can!

Cry-Baby Toads

An audio podcast commemorating my early March visit to the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Features the voices of Common Pauraque, Chachalaca, Green Jay, Great Kiskadee, Eastern Screech-Owl, Long-billed Thrasher, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, and more!

Pauraques On My Mind – Podcast

A binaural dawn chorus soundscape featuring a number of songbirds set against the gurgle of Aravaipa Creek. Particularly prominent are the songs of a Yellow Breasted Chat and a Northern Cardinal. The gobble of a Wild Turkey can be heard in the background. Recorded 30 April 2017 on Nature Conservancy property at the eastern edge of the Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness Area in southeastern Arizona.

Please Listen Using Headphones!

Chat's Domain  (Aravaipa Canyon Waterscape)

This binaural podcast features recordings I made during the month of May in 2018, at the height of spring near my home in upstate New York. Please join me on this nature sound adventure, and be sure to listen using headphones for a fully spacious experience.

This is the first in a series of two or three podcasts wherein I will share my best recordings from 2018. Because of project deadlines that kept me glued to my computer, I did not get out much this season. But that will change next year, when I plan to head to Florida in early spring and then follow spring north, perhaps all the way to the Gaspé!

Spring Delights 2018 - A Binaural Podcast by Lang Elliott

Northern Mole Cricket singing at dusk along the shore of Hematite Lake. Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky. October 14, 2019. © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Northern Mole Cricket

A mellow thunderstorm recorded binaurally at night at Land Between the Lakes Kentucky. October 16, 2019. © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon In The Hands of Fate Kalimba

Philip Vanbergen

Recent comments

Matt Brandl

Related tracks