Much of sound editing and analysis, particularly for animal sounds, is done using spectrograms. Spectrograms are graphs that show the frequency (or pitch) on the y-axis and time on the x-axis. The loudness of the sound is indicated by the intensity of the color. They read somewhat like a musical score, except that time is
Visualizing Sounds Read More »
It’s a cute little bird – the Phainopepla. A member of the tropical Silky Flycatcher family, males are a shiny black and females a charcoal grey. Both have red eyes and a feathery crest. They are quite noticeable in the desert, as males like to perch at the very top of mesquite trees (like the
Phainopepla – the mistletoe bird Read More »
It’s an odd spot for a windmill – up in a wooded canyon, rather than out in the open. It’s fan barely reaches above the nearby junipers and oaks. I don’t know how long it’s been there; the storage tank is rusty and leaky; even the watering tank is starting to leak, although it still
The birds around my house are really getting fired up. A week or two of seventy-degree weather (albeit interspersed with snow squalls) seems to have sent them into overdrive. They start chirping at first light, and by 6:30 am the dawn chorus is in full swing. Unfortunately, that is also when my little community on
Early Spring in the Sonoran Desert Read More »
River speech is a concatenation of murmurs and burbles, hisses and humming, snarls, chokes, whispered asides, and violent coughs. The voice of mountain water is always many voices, blended like the roar of the crowd, and although even before you think about it you know you can never tease those myriad elements apart, you keen
The dead-end river Read More »
The effects of the atmosphere on sound transmission can be quite profound. I found this out recently when I was recording along the Carson River, near Carson City, NV. I first set up my recorder along the river on December 28, 2012. It was lightly overcast, the temperature was in the mid-20s, and the ground
Bouncing off the sky Read More »
Many years ago I took a road trip to Alaska with a friend. On our last day in the state, before crossing back into Canada, we camped east of Fairbanks in an extensive aspen grove in it’s full autumn glory. As we took his dog for a walk through the glowing trees, a strange, primordial
The Primeval Grace of Sandhill Cranes Read More »
I’m having a lot of fun with my ultrasonic microphone (Ultramic 200k). It’s opened up a parallel universe of flying mammals and calling insects and the evolutionary arms race between them. In early August of this year, I found myself camping in a gorgeous spot in the canyon country of Utah – Calf Creek. I
Ultrasonic predators and prey Read More »
In mid May of this year, I headed over to the north end of the Gila Wilderness to do some camping and recording. A small column of smoke was visible in the general direction of the center of the wilderness, but I had read on the USFS website that some controlled burns were planned for
Before the Whitewater-Baldy Fire Read More »
In mid-September, I got tired of the never-ending heat in Tucson, and escaped to the White Mountains in east-central Arizona. I spent a few days camping at lovely Luna Lake, and spent my time poking around in the forest. A huge wildfire had engulfed this place just over a year before. As far as I
After the Wallow Fire Read More »
I found out recently that mice sing. Not just little squeaks that we can hear, but little notes that occur at the edge of our hearing – ultrasonic for those of us over 30. Slowed down they sound like whale songs. The common deer mice do it, so I set out to find out if
Singing mice and the packrat band Read More »
On a recent trip to New Mexico, to do some recording and get out of the southern Arizona heat, I stopped by the Gila River to camp. I set up camp in a grove of large cottonwood trees, about 100 yards from the river. My dog, Shadow, and I spent the afternoon playing in the
Things that go bump in the night Read More »
