Part of my recording tour of the southwest with Lang Elliott this spring took us to Big Bend National Park. From a westerner’s perspective, this is the end of the earth. It’s a long, long ways from anywhere, even by Texas standards. But this remoteness, incredible topography, and habitat diversity make it a good spot […]
The beaver pond at the end of the road Read More »
As a follow-up to my last post about the tardiness of migration this last spring, I wanted to use our trip to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument as an example. Lang Elliott and I recorded recorded here in late March of 2017. The expected compliment of birds was there, behaving as I’d come to expect
Late winter soundscape in the Sonoran Desert Read More »
I recently returned from a 7-week sound recording expedition to the southwest U.S. From Carson City, to southern California, southern Arizona, southern Texas, western New Mexico, central and southern Arizona, a quick trip to Albuquerque to see friends, back to Arizona, and finally home through Utah and central Nevada. Almost 7,500 miles, and almost all
In far northeastern California lies a remote range of mountains known as the Warner Mountains. More than 90 miles long, they hug the California-Nevada border, and just cross into Oregon east of Lakeview. The peaks at the southern end approach 10,000 ft, while those in the north only rise to a little over 8,000 ft.
Exploring the Warner Mountains Read More »
In southern Nevada, a bit more than 100 miles north of Las Vegas, lies a mountain range known as the Quinn Canyon Range. I first became aware of it when I was pondering over some vegetation maps of Nevada, and noticed that this range had an unusually high diversity of trees. Some, such as white
Although I stayed pretty close to home during the spring, avoiding Covid-19 and all, by June I couldn’t stand it anymore. So I June 1st, I packed up the car and headed into central Nevada to record the sounds of the wild. My first stop was Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, near Fallon. Breeding activity was
Although I focused most of this summer exploring the Great Basin and its soundscapes, I also dabbled on it’s edges in northern California and southern Idaho. In early June, I detoured a bit from my search for Brewer’s sparrows to check out a small mountain range that borders the northern Great Basin. Waters on the
Spring in the Rockies Read More »
I take my dog for a walk almost everyday, usually to a chunk of BLM land on the east side of town. The city and BLM have created a small recreation area there, with many trails winding up and around a mountain. The trails are in a stand of big sage, an ancient stand where
Sagebrush Soliloquy Read More »
Spring is taking its good old time arriving in northern Nevada, and everything seems a bit behind schedule. I recently headed over to Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge to see how things were progressing. The birds at the refuge were not waiting – they were in full breeding mode, which means making a lot of racket.
Spring arrives at Stillwater Read More »
Winter still has it’s cool and windy grip on northern Nevada, so I’m digging into the archives from last summer for some recordings to share. In July of last year, after visiting and recording in the Santa Rosa Mountains, I traveled to Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in southeastern Oregon. I first visited Hart Mountain
Hart Mountain Summer Read More »
This summer has been unbelievable in the amount of smoke, even in areas distant from the wildfires in California, Nevada, and the Pacific Northwest. In northern Nevada, rather than the rare smoky day, a day better than “moderate” air quality was something to celebrate. During much of July and August, the air quality never got
Escaping the smoke Read More »
It’s been a hot and very smoky summer in western Nevada. I almost hate to complain, given the horrific blazes that have occurred just on the other side of the Sierras in California. Much of the smoke from those fires moves east, over the Sierras to linger in the valleys beyond. Day after day of
