July 3rd, 2022 early evening.  On a background chorus of crickets and cicadas in the humid, warm (hot), calm evening air, a single eastern narrow-mouthed toad calls (Gastrophryne carolinensis). 

Recorded using Earsight mics (Immersive Soundscapes) into a Zoom F3 recorder.  Only 'processing' was a low-shelf to mildly attenuate < 150 kHz and fade in/out.   The mics were attached to a vine about 50 cm apart (A|B) facing the water.  One of the 'windbubble' covers was missing, so I improvised a cover using a battery bag.  Distant auto traffic noise is audible early in the recording.

I am not a toad or frog expert.  The best information source I have found for Arkansas herps of all kinds is here:   https://www.herpsofarkansas.com/Frog/HomePage.

Warm summer evening, cicadas, crickets and an eastern narrow-mouthed toad

See related post:  https://soundcloud.com/dismalhiker/helicopter-flyover-cicadas-frogs-and-toads-summer-night-in-an-arkansas-forest?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing.

Warm summer evening by a lake in central Arkansas, July 3rd, 2022.  On a relatively quiet background of cicada buzzing and frog calls, a prop plane approaches and flies overhead.  After the airplane sound reaches a peak, the frog/toad chorus begins and the cicada buzzing grows louder.  After about a minute the scene returns to relative quiet, as before.  As mentioned in the linked post, this seems to be a frequent observation.

Recorded with Earsight mics (Immersive Soundscapes) into a Zoom F3 recorder.   No post-processing, only fade in/out.

Prop plane flyover, cicadas, frogs and toads - summer night in an Arkansas forest

The night of September 22, 2022 in northern Colorado featured a very large migration event mostly composed of sparrows and warblers of various species. This recording captures an hour of night. You can hear hundreds of nocturnal flight calls as the birds fly over my house. 

Audio recorded with an OldBird microphone attached to a Sound Devices MixPre 6.

Listen with headphones for best results!

Heavy Fall Nocturnal Migration -- Northern Colorado, September 22, 2022

An adult male White-eyed Vireo singing very pretty songs. Some of his songs are the most complex of any White-eyed Vireo I have heard. At the end of this recording, he sings rambling songs. These are typically sung to his mate when she is ready to lay an egg.

White-eyed Vireo, Pretty Songs And Rambling Song

Tuesday the 25th of July 2023.  Got out of bed at 3.06am.  On the road at 4.03am, arrived at a place west of Kilcarra (South County Wicklow Ireland) at 4.26am.  Thought I was too early but some Swallows were twittering strongly just inside a field at a crumbling Ivy covered wall.  I decided to go into the area surrounded by ruins of farm buildings and see what was about.  Some jets flew over but eventually I got reasonably close to a Swallow that was twittering.  I could see I wasn't going to have much success there because the area had high weeds and moving about quietly and even safely was impossible, I didn't know what lumps or metal or other things might be among the weeds to trip me, I had reason to believe there might be, also the dew was wetting my feet.   Back out on the road again I walked on quietly to see what was about, then opposite a house was a Yellowhammer in song, to my surprise I got really close to him and recorded for about seven minutes, I could still hear the river that was a few kilometres away, however I was happy to at least get close to this bird.  Further on I tried for a Robin but the noise from the motorway was breaking through so I had to give up. 
On the way he  back the Yellowhammer was still there and singing I saw that he was perched on a small tree stump, he saw me and flew away, I could see that the angle I had approached him to record was just right, a few weeds and some bramble hid him from seeing me, had I approached from another angle to record he would have seen me and flown away.  That area is really good for Yellowhammers.  Nearer the car a Magpie, (perhaps there was two of them) began to cackle loudly, so I pointed the gun mic at them, they were 'only' Magpie however it was fun to have a go.  They fell silent, I moved closer, I knew the bird or birds would not move out of there without making a racket and I was right, after 2m37 (I timed it later), the bird suddenly made a loud alarm sort of call and flew away, thought the level had gone too high but what could I do, time to go home, it was getting far too noisy. 
It was a mostly clear, near calm, cool morning around 13C.  Later during processing I was glad to see that that alarm ?  call had not gone too high and that some of the Yellowhammer song was usable, the distant swish noise is mostly the river at Woodenbridge.  Left for home at 5.31am, arrived back at 5.49am.  Equipment; a Sound Devices MixPre3 and a Rode NTG-8 full length gun mic.   Recording 4077.

Yellowhammer - 25 July 2023 - 5.06am - Near Kilcarra

Swainson's Thrush Call

Blue-Headed Vireo Call

Peregrine Falcon Call

Science Friday

Preserving Acadia National Park’s Vanishing Birdsong

18th of June 2024.  Got out of bed at 2.35am.  Drove up to Ballinvally woods, got there at around 4am. It was beautifully calm when I arrived.  I had done a lot of stereo spaced mic recordings when on holiday in Estonia during May, so I wanted to make a change and use the parabolic dish instead.  In this area is a gravel road parallel to the narrow tar-mac country road, this gravel road goes to a field gate, I don't know why it was made this way, it seems to be unnecessary duplication.  A way in to that field from the normal road could have been easily made.  However it is a good place to record as any traffic going by would not be a problem, as in me needing to be careful or move the gear in any way, also no-one could see me.  
I heard a nearby Songthrush in song, so I had a go at recording it.  I tried to record other birds but didn't have much success, the wind didn't ease down at all, also there was many jets roaring over head.  By then I had worked the hedgerow downhill, decided it was no use, everything was against me, it was not going to quieten down, so I walked uphill towards the car with a view to pack up and go home, when up there I recorded a Wren in song.  This bird was nice and close, I recorded another Wren with a slightly different song, these are short recordings but good.  Left for home at around 6.10am, home at 6.40am.  Equipment; A parabolic (Telinga) dish, a MixPre3 recorder and one Sennheiser MKH8020 Omni microphone.  Recording 4334.

Wren - song (1) - 18th June 2024 - 5.30am - Ballinvally

Ruby-crowned Kinglets were singing at edges of West Grove Park, and oak grove at River Towers, Alexandria, VA.

Marantz PMD561, Sennheiser ME62, & Telinga Parabola
RCKI 032420 0845am Short 1010

Photo credit: Laura Gooch  CC BY-NC-SA https://www.flickr.com/photos/lgooch/6121534609/in/photolist-8nhMbu-8nhKub-ajWsYa-ajZez3-ajZEey-ajWsqP-ajWrFX-ajVVPr/

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 032420

I am naturalist, ecological educator, sound recordist, citizen scientist, and active community member living near Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve in Alexandria, VA. More here: https://wildaroundus.wordpress.com/ and https://soundsofschoodic.wordpress.com/

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 032420

Laura Sebastianelli

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