Track 1. Singing Sands
Recorded at Point Nepean National Park, Mornington Penninsular near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, at dawn.

This was a beautifully still morning, small waves (they always sound bigger and more dramatic on a recording), roll in on a sheltered ocean beach. This small bay was protected by rocky headlands, and the waves were dissipating their energy well away from the shore, so by the time they collapsed on the sand, they were quite gentle. A small group of Silver Gulls, probably our most well-known shore birds, can be heard flying over head around 2.00-2.15, giving their crying calls.

Track 2: Ocean Beach
Recorded at Point Nepean National Park, Mornington Penninsular, Victoria, at dawn.

Now we are on the open ocean beach, still at dawn, with first light reflecting off the wild waters.

Track 3: The Sooty Oystercatcher
Recorded at Mimosa Rocks National Park, NSW.

You can hardly hear the Oystercatcher's sharp alarm call over the roar of the waves, beginning 0.00. Silver Gulls begin calling around 0.50.

Track 4: Silver Gulls
Recorded at Point Nepean National Park, Victoria.

This recording displays the varied calls of Silver Gulls (CD front cover), sounds familiar to any Australian beach holiday. Gulls can be argumentative, gentle, humourous, and endearing. Here can be heard garrulous 'pecking order' calls, juvenile begging calls, and group contact vocalisations. I love their 'wingeing'.

Track 5: Rock Platform
Recorded at Point Nepean National Park, Victoria.

Waves break on a rock platform, 50 metres offshore, giving a nice sense of space and distance. Every now and then a wave hits the leading edge of the platform with a slap, sending a plume of spray skywards.

Track 6: Banksia Dunes
Recorded at Mimosa Rocks National Park, NSW.

Little Wattlebirds are common dwellers of coastal Banksia heaths, and have a wonderfully characterful variety of calls. Here they can be heard prominently at 0.03, 0.17, 0.48, 0.58 ... There are also soft, high-pitched calls from New-Holland Honeyeaters to be heard thorughout.

Track 7: Distant Bellbirds
Recorded at Mimosa Rocks National Park, NSW.

Bellbirds occur mainly in wet, coastal forests, often in huge flocks that dominate a patch of forest. They are very territorial and will chase out many small bird species, especially allied honeyeaters, which can cause an environmental problem in some areas. As you hear them here, imagine a tranquil freshwater lake in front of you, a hundred metres back from the beach. On the far side of the lake, the forest is ringing with Bellbirds, their calls blending together as they carry across the still waters in the early morning light. An Eastern Spinebill flies past very close by, calling on the wing (around 0.17).

Track 8: Among the Rockpools
Recorded at Bittangabie Bay, Discovery Bay National Park, NSW.

Gentle sounds of water swirling around rocks, in and out of rockpools in a sheltered coastal bay.

Track 9: Heathland Dawn
Recorded at Mimosa Rocks National Park, NSW.

A wonderful dawn chorus, from maybe a kilometer behind the ocean beach. This is a landscape of low, ground level coastal heathes and bushes, and is home to a unique collection of birdlife. The rich melodic bird you can hear (around 0.30 on) is a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (also featured on our Favourite Australian Birdsong album). Variegated Fairy-wrens give their thin, silvery reels (quietly at 0.18, 1.13, and track 10, 0.43) among other high-pitched calls (around 1.52). There are several Tawny Grassbirds calling, mostly in the distance, but a few descending trills are clear enough to stand out (0.50, more noticable at 2.50, 3.29) A Little Raven flies past in the distance (1.57 on), and if you listen closely, you can just make out the 'whooping' calls of a Coucal Pheasant (2.33).

Track 10: Sea Eagles
Recorded at Mimosa Rocks National Park, NSW.

A pair of majestic White-bellied Sea Eagles soar overhead, calling on the wing. This is probably a breeding pair engaged in courtship or bonding calling, during which they engage in spectacular aerobatics, tumbling over each other in the air. Seeing a pair of birds doing this is a wonderful sight (and sound), and also a sign that there will likely be a nest in the area.

Track 11: The Blowhole
Recorded at Point Nepean National Park, Victoria.

The photograph of the 'exploding wave' in the CD booklet comes from this recording location.

Track 12: Fairy Penguins
Recorded on Phillip Island, Victoria

Every evening, tiny Fairy Penguins come ashore to roost for the night. After having spent the day feeding at sea, they return to waddle ashore, sometimes up very steeply sloping coastal hills, to find their burrows among the grass tussocks. As they do so, their haunting, braying calls carry across the coastal dunes on the night air. Phillip Island is world famous as a place to witness them coming ashore every evening, but they can be found at many locations around our South Eastern coasts. (and further North - I remember vividly an occasion when I was a child, boating on Sydney harbour and having a Fairy Penguin swimming alongside.)

Track 13: Gentle Lapping
Recorded at Bittangabie Bay, Discovery Bay National Park, NSW.

Track 14: Distant Beach
Recorded at Bittangabie Bay, Discovery Bay National Park, NSW.

The tracklist in the booklet is printed over a photo from the location of this recording. A Masked Lapwing, also known as a Spur-winged Plover, can be heard in the distance at one point (T13; 1.31, and later in the far distance during T14). I love the long wave breaks going from left to right on the final track.

Booklet photo locations;

CD cover, CD back cover (Seagulls silhouetted at dawn), back booklet cover (golden sands), feature photo (pink dawn), Seagull footprints (under Andrew & Sarah text), Seaweed on beach; Mimosa Rocks NP, NSW
Rock platforms and breaking wave, Fairy Penguins; Phillip Island, Victoria
Rockpool photos (behind Sea eagle photo & under tracklist); Bittangabie Bay, Discovery Bay NP, NSW
Crab sand balls and Banksia leaf; Woodgate NP, Qld

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