Sound By Nature

This was recorded on a sunny and warm summer day in the forest beside a cold mountain stream high in the valley of the North Fork of the Sacramento River in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. The recording starts in the morning and continues until mid afternoon. I recorded this during a short, two-night backpacking trip to the area in early July. In order to save weight,...

This was recorded in the forest on a clear summer morning high in the valley of the North Fork of the Sacramento River in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. The air was cool but not cold, in fact relatively warm for 6,700 feet elevation. The rushing water of several streams is heard in the distance as they cascade down the sides of the valley before eventually coming toge...

This was recorded in the early evening in the forest near Medicine Lake in Modoc National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. Thunderclouds had been brewing for much of the afternoon when finally this thunderstorm sprang to life at the end of the day, so I hastily grabbed my recording gear and set it up beneath a tree in the forest not far from my campsite. On the day day prior to this recording...

This was recorded on a clear and cool summer night in the Hemlock Campground at Medicine Lake in Modoc National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. The lake had only been made accessible a few days earlier when the road was cleared of snow and the campground wasn't officially open yet. I was the only person there and I was happy to enjoy a quiet and peaceful night in solitude. Help this podca...

This was recorded late on a clear and calm night in the forest beside a small meadow flooded with snowmelt not far from Medicine Lake in Modoc National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. Frogs are heard singing at the lake in the distance and nearby in the shallow water of the flooded meadow. This recording was made tree ears style by placing a microphone on either side of the trunk of a tree, i...

This was recorded at dawn on a cool early summer morning in the Lodgepole Pine forest surrounding Medicine Lake in Modoc National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. I set up the mic in the forest near the campground I was staying in (which I had entirely to myself), close enough to the lake that you can hear the splash of jumping trout, yet still surrounded by trees. Despite it being early summe...

This was recorded just after sunset beside Medicine Lake in Modoc National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. The wind had just died down and the remaining wind ripples lapped against the rocky shoreline, then slowly subsided as the lake became increasingly still. Frogs and toads called out in chorus on the far side of the lake as the darkness settled in and the clouds dissipated, revealing an i...

*This episode is a little quieter than usual, you may need to turn up the volume to hear it well. This was recorded on a late spring afternoon in a small stand of Quaking Aspen growing beneath tall Ponderosa Pines beside a seasonally flooded meadow located east of Bear Mountain in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. I made this recording using the tree ears technique, in w...

This was recorded early on a clear spring morning in the forest near White Deer Lake in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. The recording starts about an hour before sunrise as the birds were just beginning to sing, and the frogs were winding down their nighttime chorus. You'll hear many different birds on this recording including Great Horned Owl, American Robin, Hamm...

This was recorded on a spring afternoon at White Deer Lake in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. The thunder began in the distance with a light breeze blowing through the Ponderosa Pines and White Firs towering above, then clouds rapidly gathered overhead and built into active thunderheads which produced abundant lightning and loud thunder. As the storm slowly moved direc...

This was recorded in the middle of a warm, sunny, and breezy day during my camping trip at Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park at the end of April. I was walking along the Lava Springs Trail between the Horr Pond Campground and Crystal Springs when I happened upon a mother Black Bear and her cubs. I saw the mama bear first walking through the thick undergrowth more than hundred feet away. Upon seeing...

This was recorded early on a clear and warm spring morning at Bigelow Meadow in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. A light and steady breeze blew across the willow thickets and a few nearby pine trees which call the meadow home, with the soft roar of the McCloud River, running high with an abundance of snowmelt, heard in the distance. The recording starts in predawn darkn...

This was recorded early on a rainy morning near a seasonal lake deep in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Shasta County, California. I set the recording rig up tree ears style on a White Fir and left it for two nights at this location. This episode is from very early on the first morning of the recording. It starts in the darkness of predawn in steady rain near the end of an all night frog choru...

This was recorded in spring at Conical Depression in Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park, Shasta County, California. Conical Depression is a wide, shallow crater with a small lake in the middle, which is ringed with tule and cattails, with a wide clearing around the lake which is surrounded by juniper and oak woodland. I set up the microphone beneath junipers and oaks near the edge of the clearing to...

This was recorded on a clear and warm spring evening in the Horr Pond Campground at Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park, Shasta County, California. I built the fire with downed oak branches I gathered from the surrounding forest floor, and started it just before sunset. It burned vigorously at first, then slowly died down as darkness fell and the stars came out. I recorded this during a six night cam...

This was recorded at Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park on the morning of Earth Day in Shasta County, California. It was a clear and crisp spring morning beneath a large oak tree standing beside the Lava Springs Trail at the edge of an oak, pine, and juniper woodland not far from the waters edge. The recording starts in darkness an hour before sunrise and continues into the morning. I recorded this...

This was recorded in the predawn hours beside Bigelow Creek in Bigelow Meadow Botanical Area, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. There was still several feet of snow blanketing the forest floor and the creek was flowing well, whereas at this time last year what little snow there was had long since melted and the creek was dry. After a couple years of severe drought, it&#3...

This was recorded on a cool and partly cloudy spring day beside the Sacramento River in the Sacramento River Bend Area, Tehama County, California. I set up the microphone at a small opening in the dense vegetation growing along the muddy bank of the river. The river was running high and swift, which was very nice to see after the past couple years of drought. A Lesser Goldfinch foraged in the will...

This was recorded on a cold morning in early spring beside McArthur swamp in Shasta County, California. Located just south of the rural town of McArthur, the McArthur Swamp provides important habitat for migratory waterfowl and other birds traveling the Pacific Flyway. The recording starts in the early morning beneath the stars as light just began to build on the eastern horizon, and continues wel...

This was recorded on a cool spring afternoon at the Sacramento River Bend Area in Tehama County, California. The area is administered by the Bureau of Land Management and is located along a large bend of the Sacramento River in the Sacramento Valley, which is the portion of the Central Valley of California that lies north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. It was my first time visiting the...

This was recorded on the Spring Equinox beside the Tule River Trail, near Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park, in Shasta County, California. It was a cold and windy day, and I put the microphone in one of the few places in the area that was sheltered from the wind, which was in the tules growing along the waters edge below the levee atop which the trail runs. It wasn't a perfectly sheltered spot,...

This was recorded on a sunny afternoon in late winter beside Squaw Valley Creek in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Shasta County, California. I recorded this on the same day as the previous episode at a spot beside the creek where the water was rushing over a large rock, which created a continuous deep glugging sound. The rock over which the water was rushing was just big enough, and the water was...

This recording was gathered on a clear and sunny late winter morning beside Squaw Valley Creek in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Shasta County, California. The creek was flowing swiftly from snowmelt and recent rain, which was a welcome sight to see after the past couple years of severe drought. I placed the microphone at spot beside creek with some large rocks sticking up out of the water, in th...

This was recorded at low tide during the new moon on a rocky beach in Redwood National Park, Del Norte County, California. The tide was extremely low and the microphone was placed in the intertidal zone between boulders at the base of a massive, towering rock. The roar of strong wind, rough seas, and huge surf is heard in the background as the waves, which weaved their way through the many rocks a...

I recorded this on my recent three night snow camping trip near Moosehead Creek in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Shasta County, California. I made my campsite by digging a pit in the snow and building short walls around it, which I then covered with a nylon tarp. On the final night of my trip, graupel showers started falling, then transitioned to snow. This episode consists of two recordings I m...