Northwest Soundscapes

I was asked recently to provide a few select examples of elk bugling and realized I've never made an attempt to master or isolate some of my favorites. I've included them here. This was a particularly day, with strong mountain winds sweeping down through tall pine stands. Several small break-off herds were moving through and with males calling back-and-forth and females trying to figure out which...

This clip: After trotting along in silence for more than 7 minutes, the coyote decides to give one last send-off before disappearing back into the mountains above the meadows. Playlist description: I spent the night of July 14, 2019, camped near Thirtymile Meadows in the Okanogan National Forest at 6400 ft (1950 m). The area is known as the Okanogan High Country, and for a good reason. Tall, sharp...

This clip: Moving off into the distance, our coyote performer has turned to leave the meadow. Playlist description: I spent the night of July 14, 2019, camped near Thirtymile Meadows in the Okanogan National Forest at 6400 ft (1950 m). The area is known as the Okanogan High Country, and for a good reason. Tall, sharp mountains standing on an already high, mostly dry plateau make it a unique place...

This clip: With an RT60 of 5.5 seconds, it's a beautiful trail off into the silence of the midnight meadow. Playlist description: I spent the night of July 14, 2019, camped near Thirtymile Meadows in the Okanogan National Forest at 6400 ft (1950 m). The area is known as the Okanogan High Country, and for a good reason. Tall, sharp mountains standing on an already high, mostly dry plateau make it a...

This clip: This is about as close as the coyote got, or at least the most direct facing to the microphones. The raw track doesn't clip, but those yips are just loud enough that the summing matrix clipped just a hair. This is the only clip in the collection with any adjustments -- I brought the track down by 1 dB before the matrix so I could present it with no clipping. Playlist description: I spen...

This clip: That ululation vocalization is one of my favorite sounds of the wild. Playlist description: I spent the night of July 14, 2019, camped near Thirtymile Meadows in the Okanogan National Forest at 6400 ft (1950 m). The area is known as the Okanogan High Country, and for a good reason. Tall, sharp mountains standing on an already high, mostly dry plateau make it a unique place in the Pacifi...

This clip: Listen to the echoes and reverberation change depending on which direction they face. It just paints a wonderful picture of the meadow's acoustic bowl. Playlist description: I spent the night of July 14, 2019, camped near Thirtymile Meadows in the Okanogan National Forest at 6400 ft (1950 m). The area is known as the Okanogan High Country, and for a good reason. Tall, sharp mountains st...

This clip: Our coyote performer works across the meadow, keeping a distance but moving around. Playlist description: I spent the night of July 14, 2019, camped near Thirtymile Meadows in the Okanogan National Forest at 6400 ft (1950 m). The area is known as the Okanogan High Country, and for a good reason. Tall, sharp mountains standing on an already high, mostly dry plateau make it a unique place...

This clip: From silence to performance, a lone coyote enters the meadow. Playlist description: I spent the night of July 14, 2019, camped near Thirtymile Meadows in the Okanogan National Forest at 6400 ft (1950 m). The area is known as the Okanogan High Country, and for a good reason. Tall, sharp mountains standing on an already high, mostly dry plateau make it a unique place in the Pacific Northw...

This small small pod of chorus frogs from the Ozette area of the Olympic National Park occupied the edges of a tiny transient pond no more than 10 feet/ 3 meters across. I can't imagine there are more than a dozen individuals present, not all of them vocalizing. Their sporadic choruses would last no more than a minute at intervals of 10 minutes to an hour apart! Whenever I hear small pods like thi...

Coming out right around sunset, the first members of a pod tentatively cree-eek and ribbit their way until more come up from their overnight burrows to join. Pacific Chorus Frogs, despite their oft confusing alternate name Pacific Treefrog, lives in burrows and grasses in marshy wetlands. While some frogs may make their way into shrubs while hunting food, they are primarily ground and shallow-wate...

regilla are most familiar by the male "advertisement" call used to attract females, a distinct "Kree-eeck" or ribbit. It is their encounter call between two or more aggressive males that can be so delightful. A longer, single-syllable "reeeeeeeeeeek" or "creeeeeeeeeek" utterance that seems to vary strongly from individual to individual, this call is used to say, "Hey, buddy, give me some room." --...

Daily (or nightly, as it were) life for regilla is dependent upon light, temperature, and energy. As the late night wanes, the pod loses steam. Temperature torpor sets in, individuals leave to hunt, and, well, probably get froggy-bored. The full chorus breaks first into successive waves that circle the pond and later into long-but-staccato sections that show signs of tapering away. ---------------...

Finally the night begins to close as the first rays of light appear in the twilight sky. Most of the pod members have gone back to burrow and sleep, but a few individuals continue to try their hardest to attract a mate. Somewhere out there is the regilla for them. ------------------------------------------------------------------ I love Pacific Chorus Frogs. Whether you know it as Pseudacris regil...

This one may only be of general interest to my fellow North American field recordists. There's a bird we hear *all*the*time* yet, when early in our careers we often confuse it with a "distant generator thumping". Yes. The Ruffed Grouse. Also called the "Fool's Hen" for it's propensity for not running quickly away when approached, leading one to feel like you can catch it if you're quick enough. In...

This one may only be of general interest to my fellow North American field recordists. There's a bird we hear *all*the*time* yet, when early in our careers we often confuse it with a "distant generator thumping". Yes. The Ruffed Grouse. Also called the "Fool's Hen" for it's propensity for not running quickly away when approached, leading one to feel like you can catch it if you're quick enough. In...

I had the pleasure of joining nine other sound artists and field recordists (seven participants plus the three workshop leaders)at Sonic Mmabolela 2018, the 6th Annual Workshop/Residency for sound artists & composers at Mmabolela Reserve, Limpopo, South Africa. It was two weeks of intense listening, recording, discussion, creation, hiking, and wine drinking. It was also two of the most memorable w...

single prop, piston-driven, STOL bush plane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_DHC-2_Beaver

I feel fortunate to have been able to record over an hour of unbroken natural sound in the Olympic National Forest at the Snider-Jackson trail head. Starting during Civil Twilight, sun rises in this recording around the 30 minute mark, although the Thrushes were awake and active long before then. Robins, Varied Thrushes, Flycatchers, woodpeckers, squirrels, Pacific Wrens, and more fill these moss-...

A days' worth of round-trips on the Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry, nearly all short fore-and-aft from then passenger and car decks.

A days' worth of round-trips on the Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry, nearly all short fore-and-aft from then passenger and car decks.

A days' worth of round-trips on the Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry, nearly all short fore-and-aft from then passenger and car decks.

A days' worth of round-trips on the Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry, nearly all short fore-and-aft from then passenger and car decks.

A days' worth of round-trips on the Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry, nearly all short fore-and-aft from then passenger and car decks.

A days' worth of round-trips on the Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry, nearly all short fore-and-aft from then passenger and car decks.