Bringing nature to you in sounds and images
Posted in In Nature: on May 28th, 2009
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 [...]
Posted in In Nature:, India, Travel on May 26th, 2009
Audio sample from the album ‘The Great Rann’, India by Listening Earth
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 – [...]
Posted in In Nature:, India on May 17th, 2009
What is the most beautiful songbird in the world?
If we mean ‘musical to our ears’, then surely one of our favourites would be the Malabar Whistling Thrush, Myophonus horsfieldii, of India. Also known as the ‘whistling schoolboy’, this bird has the most haunting and tuneful of songs – it is indeed like overhearing someone whistling [...]
Posted in Australia, In Nature: on May 11th, 2009
The Painted Button Quail, Turnix varia, is a native quail of the drier eucalypt forests of eastern and southern Australia. Whilst they are widespread, they are quite uncommon, and their camouflage plumage makes actually seeing them in the bush a rare treat.
Our first encounter with them was fifteen years ago, whilst sound recording for one [...]
Posted in Australia, In Nature:, New Releases on Mar 13th, 2009
We have been having some lovely moonlit nights recently, and from the bush outside our bedroom window, we’ve been hearing an Australian Magpie, gymnorhina tibicen, calling throughout the night.
It is quite common for them to do this on well-illuminated moonlit evenings. Not only Magpies, but other birds such as Willy Wagtails, are well-known for this [...]
Posted in Australia, In Nature:, New Releases on Mar 4th, 2009
Sometimes a wild goose chase leads to… well, wild geese.
Several years ago, Sarah and I journeyed to the Australian outback, hoping to record the calls of Cockatiels.
We were not having any luck finding them (they are highly nomadic birds, and seemed to have departed the area a few weeks previously). However we did discover something [...]
Posted in Listening, Philosophy, Society and Nature Sounds on Jan 21st, 2009
Recording the sounds of nature is an unusual occupation, and we often find that people misunderstand the nature of our work.
Here are our Top Ten popular misconceptions about nature recordings!
Posted in In Nature:, India, New Releases, Travel on Dec 22nd, 2008
“But you will not be finding any birds singing in that area sir!” My informant smiled reassuringly at me from behind his desk.
My heart sank. “How do you know?” I replied.
“It is part of my area as Field Officer for that park, and I never hear any birds in that area.”
“But it is the [...]
Posted in Australia, In Nature:, New Releases on Oct 21st, 2008
To see budgerigars in the wild is a wonderful experience. In the drier parts of Australia, they are found in sometimes huge flocks, taking to the air with a roar of wings, their green and yellow plumage flashing against the blue sky. When they alight, trees can be full of chattering budgies, clustering together, preening [...]
Posted in Australia, In Nature: on Oct 20th, 2008
Spring is well underway around home here in Victoria, and the bush is alive with birdsong. We’ve been out and about recording in recent weeks, with some lovely results.
In late September, Sarah and I undertook a short (but adventurous!) field trip to Mutawintji National Park in outback NSW (more later!).
We arrived home just in time [...]