Subsong of a Grey Shrike Thrush
Feb 2nd, 2010 by andrew skeoch
Recently I was out recording cicadas, when I came across a Grey Shrike Thrush giving a lovely rendition of subsong.
 |
Listen here |
I and the Bird #116
Jan 7th, 2010 by andrew skeoch
 |
We’ve just had a succession of 40 degree days. I’m talking Celsius (that’s over 100 degrees Fahrenheit), and yes, I’m writing from the Southern Hemisphere – Australia.
The cicadas have begun singing in the eucalypt forests around us, and the other morning I put my microphones out for a few hours to capture their choruses. For those of you locked in the depths of the northern winter, have a listen while you read on, it may warm your spirits!
|
Multi-species cicada chorus, with Pallid Cuckoo, Rufous Whistler, Brown Thornbills and Pobblebonk Frog. |
Now on to ‘I and the Bird’ #116 – the hot, the cool, the mysterious and the exotic!
The Australian Bustard; a photo gallery
Dec 28th, 2009 by andrew skeoch
The Australian Bustard, Ardeotis australis, is a majestic bird of open country in the remoter parts of Australia.
Chasing the Dawn Song of the Tawny-crowned Honeyeater
Dec 26th, 2009 by andrew skeoch
It was 2.30am, and Sarah and I listened as gusts of wind and occasional rain-squalls lashed our tent. Our plan of arising early to record the morning’s birdsong was not looking very hopeful. Which was disappointing, as this was our last morning in the Stirling Ranges, and we were hoping to hear and record the pre-dawn song of the Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Phylidonyris melanops.
Bird illustration gifts for my 50th birthday
Dec 11th, 2009 by andrew skeoch
I have just celebrated my 50th birthday with a lovely gathering of friends and family at our home.
What I want to share with you here are two delightful drawings gifted to me by dear friends.
The first is a work by Prue McAdam inspired by a recent trip to Mutawintji National Park – a characterful portrait of two Apostlebirds.
The ’song’ of the Club-winged Manakin
Dec 4th, 2009 by andrew skeoch
Birds don’t just make sounds by singing, they use mechanical and ‘body sounds’ to communicate too.
‘Bill-clicking’ is a widespread behaviour, and is sometimes combined with normal vocalising, as with the flock calls of White-winged Choughs, where a bill-click subtlely precedes a mournful descending whistle (listen for it on track 11 of our ‘A Morning in the Australian Bush’ album).
 |
The distinctive slapping of wings in flight by Crested Pigeons or the haunting whistle of wind through the feathers of Hornbills are other examples of non-vocal sound generation.
I’ve even heard a female White-winged Triller Lalage sueurii distinctly ‘coughing’, or more accurately using what sounded like a very throaty exhalation to create a soft ‘hissing’ sound.
|
Here is a recording of it. |
(You may have to turn the sound up – it is a very soft sound, almost lost in the ambience of the landscape. You can hear it as two ‘hisses’, the first just after the prominent song, and the second softer about 3 seconds later.)
Our pilgrimage to Rottnest Island
Dec 1st, 2009 by andrew skeoch
Firstly, many thanks to those of you who wrote after our recent blog and newsletter, expressing condolences on the passing of my mother. It was comforting for both Sarah and myself to read your kind and reflective thoughts.
We have now returned from several weeks in Western Australia, specifically to scatter mum’s ashes on Rottnest Island, where she had happy memories of summer holidays as a child. We also spent a week in Perth, catching up with mum’s extended family and friends, and being hospitably passed from household to household. It was an opportunity to renew ties, and for them to say their goodbyes too.
The scattering itself turned out to be an easier occasion than we had anticipated.
Elizabeth ‘Bun’ Skeoch – 1919-2009
Oct 11th, 2009 by andrew skeoch
Some of our customers have written to us in the last 6 months, curious that there does not appear to have been anything new added to our Listening Earth site; no blogs, no new albums.
There is a reason.
In May, Sarah and I left home to do some field work in NSW. On the way we dropped in to visit my mother in Sydney, who is 89 years old, very independent and lives in her own unit. Unfortunately we found her in very poor health, which she had been playing down a bit. We immediately moved in to care for her, and remained there for the following three months.
During those months, we progressed from caring for her, to being by her side during her final weeks in palliative care at hospital. She passed away peacefully in August.
The sounds of the sea
May 28th, 2009 by andrew skeoch
To date we have published three nature recordings featuring the coastal and ocean beach sounds. They are understandably popular, as the sounds of the sea are very relaxing.
But customers often ask; what is the difference between these recordings – surely a beach is a beach? So this is a good opportunity to discuss the variety of moods that nature presents on our wild coastlines.
Nature sounds of India’s remarkable ‘Rann of Kutch’
May 26th, 2009 by andrew skeoch
At 4 a.m., It felt like we were driving across the surface of the moon. Overhead the stars shone; hard diamonds in an inky sky. The ground over which we drove was a featureless plain of baked, grey earth – the Rann of Kutch.
 |
This unique lowland area in the northwest of India lies between the southern edge of the Thar desert and the Arabian Sea. With each monsoon, floodwaters flowing south get backed up here, creating a vast lake often less than a metre deep on which local villagers go fishing. In the dry season it becomes the moonscape we were now traversing. Even in the driest months, the Rann has RAMSAR-listed perenial wetlands, a refuge for huge numbers of waterfowl. Also dotted amongst this remote vastness were isolated ‘islands’ of thornscrub, known as phets, and it was to one of these that we were being driven in the predawn.