Species List:

Please send your comments and help complete this species list.

Both the digital download and the CD versions of this album are available for . . . → Read More: “Tree and Field Crickets with complements of poorwills” now on CD]]> Tree and Field Crickets with complements of poorwills, previously released as a digital download only, is now also available as a physical CD album, complete with cover art, a spectrogram image on the insert, and a professionally reproduced and printed CD.

Both the digital download and the CD versions of this album are available for purchase at oregonsoundscapes.com

Price: $9.99 plus shipping

Customers who have previously purchased the download version, prior to this CD release, may receive the CD for the cost of shipping only. Please contact us to make such arrangements.

For each album purchased, $5.00 will be donated to Oregon Natural Desert Asociation (ONDA).

The images below are photos taken of the actual product.

The segment can also be found on the OPB website at: http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/segments/view/1803

  The Oregon Field Guide story was not produced in stereo, so here are a few . . . → Read More: The Oregon Field Guide story on John Hartog]]> The video clip below was filmed by an Oregon Field Guide crew during April 2011 and broadcast on Oregon Public Broadcasting television November 03 2011.

The segment can also be found on the OPB website at: http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/segments/view/1803

 
The Oregon Field Guide story was not produced in stereo, so here are a few snips in full stereo for the added dimension of space.

 
From Sauvie Island:

A Flock of Sandhill Cranes
Download audio file (jh-20110320-1748_ sauvie-isl_sandhills_large-flock_flying(53sec).mp3)

 
A Flock of Cackling Geese
Download audio file (jh-20110415-1836_sauvie-isl_geese_large-flock(41sec).mp3)

 
That Coyote Chorus
Download audio file (jh-20110415-2055_sauvie_coyote-chorus_48sec.mp3)
 
 

From Hart Mountain:
The Wind Through Juniper and Sage
Download audio file (jh-20110425-1434_hart-mt_wind_ juniper-sage_mid(30sec).mp3)

Here are few extras from Hart Mountain that were not included in the story:

The Wind and a Great Horned Owl
Download audio file (jh-20110424-0400_hart-mt_wind_great-horned-owl_90sec.mp3)

 
Greater Sage Grouse and Sparrows at Dawn
Download audio file (jh-20110424-0537_hart-mt_dawn_60sec.mp3)

 
The Wind and Northern Harriers
Download audio file (jh-20110425-1133_hart-mt_wind_northern-harriers_60sec.mp3)

Use this player to listen to the 12 minute recording:

Download audio file (jh-20111023_townsends-solitaire.mp3)

The few times that I’ve found myself in juniper woodlands, surrounded by winter congregations of Townsend’s Solitaire with their call notes dispersed through the . . . → Read More: Townsend’s Solitaire]]> 2011-10-23 11:45,  Townsend’s Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi), John Day River Basin near Sutton Mountain, Wheeler County, Oregon.

Use this player to listen to the 12 minute recording:

Download audio file (jh-20111023_townsends-solitaire.mp3)

The few times that I’ve found myself in juniper woodlands, surrounded by winter congregations of Townsend’s Solitaire with their call notes dispersed through the canopy, has always lifted my spirits as well as my curiosity. This day was no exception.

While hiking up a dry stream channel through a side canyon, I approached an area with some tall grass, as though a spring was seeping there, when I began to hear some interesting bird activity.  I found a good perspective from the hillside, set up some gear there, and left it to record. Meanwhile I climbed to the top of the hill for a broader perspective.

From the hilltop, I could see the narrow canyon opened into a larger juniper filled valley, though most of the bird sounds were concentrated in that area by the spring.

Besides the beautiful scenery, I could also see contrails crosshatching the sky, evidence of persistent anthropogenic noise from air traffic. Given that reality, I feel very lucky I got a very nice recording through a lull between the noise.

I hadn’t noticed so much North/South jet traffic over this area before. It seemed as though the usual flight arterial that typically follows the Willamette Valley and the I5 freeway corridor had been moved for some reason a couple hundred miles to the east.

Despite the noise and scribbled sky, with a patient wait for a some natural quiet, and gaze below the hat brim, this land is still majestic, open, and wild.

I saw many beautiful columnar basalt cliffs around there. And getting out there, away from the city, for a weekend sure made me feel good.

There are more species heard in this recording than only Townsend’s Solitaire. For instance I hear an American Robin whinnying in the background, and a Northern Flicker calling as well.

Reading up on the Tounsend’s Solitaire (Mashall, et al, 2003. Birds of Oregon: A General Reference), I have learned that juniper cones (berries) are their primary food source in wintertime, otherwise they favor a variety of insects. The call notes and song during these non-breading time of year are said to be mainly territorial, but the activity I observed with this recording is seems more suggestive of congregating than of dispersing into territories. Though the name “solitaire” suggests a less sociable existence, it is not uncommon in summertime to hear groups of males calling with notes in flight as they pass overhead, I suppose such gregarious behavior could also be related migrations, and perhaps in this circumstance, to feeding as insect activity increased in the warm weather that day.

Please take a moment, if you can, to leave a comment.

This 192k, mp3 file can also be played or downloaded directly from this URL:
http://rockscallop.org/ear/jh-20111023_townsends-solitaire.mp3

This recording is also available in additional higher resolution formats at: oregonsoundscapes.com

John Hartog
Natural Soundscape Recording
Portland, Oregon USA

I like to visit and record this beaver-enhanced lake as often as I can,   and the following excerpt is from a recording session on the evening of August 21 2011. The photo was taken from the opposite end of the lake about half an hour prior to the recording.

There are a . . . → Read More: Beaver Lake 2011-08-21 21:38 (just after dark)]]>

I like to visit and record this beaver-enhanced lake as often as I can,   and the following excerpt is from a recording session on the evening of August 21 2011. The photo was taken from the opposite end of the lake about half an hour prior to the recording.

There are a variety of beaver sounds in this piece such as chewing,   swimming,   vocalizing,   tail splashing,   and more. The water dripping to the left is from cloud impaction,   or fog condensing on and dripping from leaves of alder and maple trees. It sounds like there is a beaver tromping around over there too. The weather was warm,   around 60 degrees Fahrenheit,   and the misty fog soon became a steady drizzle.

The track starts with an interesting sound I can not yet identify –   it is fairly soft,   repeats several times and sounds like a frog or maybe a merganser. Maybe it is a beaver sound. From the positioning I hear,   it sounds like it must be on or very close to the grassy shore on the left. If you have any idea what it is,   then please post a comment.

Recorded with Rode NT1A microphones and a Sound Devices 702 recorder.
Edited with a parametric equalizer and some ms processing to balance the tonal character.

Spectral Image of Pacific Wren song

Download audio file (exerpt-for-spectrgramt64.mp3)

The image above shows . . . → Read More: Celebrating Pacific Wren]]> Last year, 2010, the Winter Wren species was officially spit into three distinct species, the Old World “Eurasian Wren”,  the eastern North America “Eastern Wren,” and our northwest North America species is now “Pacific Wren”   (Troglodytes pacificus.)

Spectral Image of Pacific Wren song

Download audio file (exerpt-for-spectrgramt64.mp3)

The image above shows a detailed spectral view (spectrogram) of a five second duration Pacific wren song. Play the audio clip to hear the respective recording. Click the image for a larger view. While the main energy is centered between 4000 and 8000 Herts,  the harmonics climb well above the 20000 Hertz and the limits of human hearing.

Some bird experts use the winter wren species songs as examples to demonstrate complexity of bird song,  by using spectrogams for visual analysis and  sometimes by slowing down a recording of the song to make it easier to comprehend the details.

The next audio clip is a slowed down version of that same five second song stretched to eighty seconds.  Stretching this song by sixteen times,  like I have done,  might seem excessive,  but I tried it and I found it interesting and revealing,   and I hope it helps some others to appreciate such rapid intricacy.   In the stretching process, the pitch is also lowered.

Download audio file (pacificwren-slowed_T64.mp3)

Of course there is no better way to hear a Pacific Wren than alive in its natural setting. Here are a few more minutes of the next best thing at normal speed. Recorded July 17, 2011, Clatsop County, Oregon,  by John Hartog.

Download audio file (jh-20110710-0635_pacific-wren.mp3)

I hope you enjoy it.

John Hartog

Oregon Soundscapes by John Hartog Natural Soundscape . . . → Read More: New Album Release: Oregon Soundscapes]]> In celebration of our northern hemisphere summer solstice, I have put together a few recordings from some of my favorite spots in Oregon.
The album is hosted at my new Bandcamp page, oregonsoundscapes.com, where it is available for download and/or listening in its entirety or as individual tracks.

Also the Soundcloud version is here:
http://snd.sc/iQ5Txl

John Hartog

Distant views so barren except for those features that rise prominently.

Dips and gullies, and in this case a pond within a small basalt crater, go unnoticed until you step out to explore. And now . . . → Read More: Family of Coots… and a whirlwind]]> You never know what you might find while exploring the desert.
Download audio file (jh-20080711_coots.mp3)

Distant views so barren except for those features that rise prominently.

Dips and gullies, and in this case a pond within a small basalt crater, go unnoticed until you step out to explore. And now imagine, what at first appears as a stagnant pool…

…is brimming with life, and a home to a family of American Coots.