Sound By Nature

This was recorded in early spring on a mostly cloudy morning at Gold Bluffs Beach in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Humboldt County, California. The wind was light and the ocean surface glassy, and I placed the microphone on a bar of sand and small cobblestones exposed by the low tide, close to the water's edge but beyond the reach of the shorebreak.

Do you like the podcast and want to help it get made? You can do...

This was recorded on a calm early spring morning in Murrelet State Wilderness, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Humboldt County, California. The nearby tributary stream of Squashan Creek flowed swiftly in the gully below as birds sang in the early light of dawn. First to sing on this morning was the Varied Thrush, followed by the complex, rapid song of the Pacific Wren. This part of the forest wasn't far from the ocean, and i...

I recorded this on a cloudy night at the beginning of spring on Gold Bluffs Beach in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Humboldt County, California. The wind was light and blowing offshore, and through the night the tide went from high to low and back to high by morning. The recording started at about 9 p.m. and continues till a bit before sunrise at about 7 a.m.

This recording is entirely free of noise pollution.

Do you ...

This was recorded on a clear and sunny winter afternoon at McArthur Swamp, Shasta County, California. Gusty wind rushed across the grassland, rustling the tall dry grasses and swooshing past their stiff stalks.

McArthur swamp is an area of protected wetlands and grasslands adjacent to the Tule River and Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park located just north of the small town of McArthur. The area provides wintering habitat, esse...

I recorded this at my home in the small town of McCloud in Siskiyou County, California. It was a relatively warm winter morning, and a flock of Evening Grosbeaks was busily eating a breakfast of sunflower seeds from a feeder hanging from the branch of a birch tree in my backyard. I placed a microphone on either side of the trunk of the tree(tree ears style) and recorded the action.

I recorded this on a breezy winter afternoon beside Big Lake in the northeast corner of Shasta County, California. The sky started off mostly cloudy with rain showers to the west, but the showers dissipated as they moved eastward towards the lake, and the clouds broke up allowing the sun to shine through.

In this episode the constant lapping of small wind waves against the tule lined shore is punctuated by the soft sound of th...

This was recorded on a cloudy January evening during an outgoing tide on the beach beside the mouth of the Klamath River in Del Norte County, California. The steady roar of large surf breaking in the distance is punctuated by the waves pushing in against the powerful current of the river and rhythmically crashing against the shore.

The river was running high and was colored chocolate brown with the abundance of sediment it was car...

This was recorded on a rainy night at the very end of autumn in a stand of Quaking Aspen trees beside Bigelow Meadow in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. I made this recording tree ears style by placing a small microphone on either side of the trunk of a Quaking Aspen tree that was standing near the edge of the meadow. The leaves had long since fallen from the tree and those surrounding it, and the leaf l...

This was recorded on a cold and windy late autumn day at the edge of Medicine Lake in Modoc National Forest, Siskiyou County, California.

At the location beside the lake where this was recorded, shards of ice that looked like broken plate glass were piled up along the shore. This occurred sometime in the days prior, when the lake had frozen over and the thin ice was broken up by wind and blown across the surface of the lake to its ...

This was recorded on a cold and sunny morning beside Medicine Lake in Modoc National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. I made this recording at the same time the previous episode was recording, about 250 meters away.

I used the binaural recording technique for this, in which a microphone is worn on each ear in order to capture sound as closely as possible to the way we naturally hear. I strongly recommend using headphones for th...

This was recorded on a cold, sunny, and still morning at the edge of frozen Medicine Lake in Modoc National Forest, Siskiyou County, California.

Early in the morning the sun was obscured by clouds, but after they passed by and the sun shined upon the icy lake, surreal sounds began emanating from the surface. The ice at the edge of the lake snapped and crackled, and long cracks ran across the the icy lake surface, creating strange ...

I recently made some wind protection for my SAAM Microphone in order to get better recordings on windy days. Several people remarked that it looked like Cousin It from the Addams Family, so that's what I've started calling it. I went to Medicine Lake, in Modoc National Forest, on a very cold and windy day in order to test it out, and these are the results.

These are the raw files straight from the recorder(Zoom F6) with no...

This was recorded on a cold and clear autumn day in the forest high above Cabin Creek near the Pacific Crest Trail in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Shasta County, California. A light breeze blew through the tops of the Douglas Fir trees towering above, shaking loose rain that was still clinging to the needles from the night before. The recording starts just after sunrise and continues until just before sunset.

I am extremely...

This was recorded beneath a stand of Mountain Hemlock and Lodgepole Pine on a breezy autumn day at Porcupine Lake in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. The air was cold and crisp as the sun shined through passing high clouds, while gusty wind blew through the trees surrounding the clear water of the high mountain lake. Unbothered by the wind, a small banditry of Mountain Chickadees made its way through the...

This was recorded on a clear autumn day near the Pacific Crest Trail in a deep, shady, and densely forested mountain gulch at the bottom of a small waterfall on Trough Creek in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Shasta County, California.

I am deeply grateful to everyone that has helped me by making monthly contributions and one time donations to the podcast. You are directly helping me produce these recordings for you and all my...

This was recorded on a rainy autumn night in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Shasta County, California. A breeze blew through the trees above early on then gradually subsided as the rain fell steadily through the night before becoming lighter as morning drew near.

This was recorded tree ears style in which a small microphone is placed on either side of the trunk of a tree, in this case a White Fir. I placed the mics low on the tru...

I recorded this in the meadow at the south end of Taylor Lake in the Russian Wilderness, Klamath National Forest, Siskiyou County, California.

It was a warm morning for the elevation of the meadow(6500') thanks to the cloud cover overnight. The bumblebees, butterflies, and other pollinators were out early, flying from flower to flower getting their of fill of nectar. Cows grazed out of sight, hidden from view by the many willo...

This was recorded on a cloudy night beside Taylor Lake in the Russian Wilderness, Klamath National Forest, Siskiyou County, California. The recording starts at around midnight and continues until sunrise.

The night was fairly calm with a faint breeze blowing through the treetops. Cows grazing in the area were active for a good portion of the night as they slowly made their way, with cowbells clanging, to the meadows at the south en...