A few weeks ago, just as winter was finally arriving in northern Nevada, the dog and I headed to southern California to do some recording in the Mojave Desert. I expected to find spring on its way out, with birds frantically bringing food to their youngsters. But the weird winter we had out west threw […]
Spring in the Mojave Desert Read More »
I was perusing the internet recently (a bad habit), when I ran across something someone posted about fireflies. I don’t remember the gist of the article, but it did remind me of a magical experience I had with fireflies last summer in the mountains of eastern Arizona. I was actually there to try to record
Starry skies and fireflies Read More »
Winter has finally arrived in northern Nevada, with colder temperatures and a few snowflakes, although not enough to get us out of a severe “snow drought.” Last week, temperatures were pushing 70 degrees F, causing the plants to start budding, and a notable increase in singing by the local house finches and Eurasian collared-doves. My
Summertime Dreaming Read More »
The Jarbidge Mountain area, in far northeastern Nevada, is considered one of the most remote areas in the lower 48. So naturally, I wanted to check it out, but was a little intimidated by some skirmishes between local ranchers and federal land managers. So when Lang Elliot, in the midst of his sound recording tour
In early July, I took a break from the moving/packing/cleaning routine that has occupied much of this year to meet up again with Lang Elliot for some sound recording in northern Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming. I’ll present many of those recordings over the next few months, but now I wanted to present what was, for
It’s been a horrible year for fires out west. I’ve spent much of the summer dodging smoke and trying to find areas to record that are not on fire. Southeastern Arizona is a naturally fire-prone area, with much of the flora and fauna adapted to wildfires from dry lightning storms at the start of the
The Great Basin is a rough, corrugated landscape of rugged mountain ranges separated by desert flats. Although each one differs a bit, most of the valley bottoms are decorated with bursage, big sage, and salt flats. When the glaciers melted at the end of the Pleistocene, these basin were filled with large lakes, primarily Lake
Like many nature recordists, I’m a bit obsessed with recording the spring dawn chorus. It’s dynamic variety, changing by the minute, the day, the season, the habitat, is like candy for the ears. However, I’m almost as fascinated by the night sounds – the singing insects and amphibians, the owls, the night jars, and the
Night sounds in a desert canyon Read More »
The dawn chorus is a wonderful, natural phenomenon in which many birds do most of their singing at or before the first light of day. It is most obvious during the spring, as birds set up territories and go about attracting mates. In southern Arizona, the resident birds begin singing in February, and many are
Chasing the dawn chorus Read More »
The final days of my fall 2016 border-to-border journey I awoke to a beautiful, calm and sunny morning along Disappointment Creek in Colorado; the silence only broken by a light whisper through the sage brush and a car on the distant highway. After breakfast, I packed up the car and headed south. I made a
Changes in latitude Read More »
Days nine and ten of my Fall 2016 border-to-border road trip Following my lovely but damp night spent along the Grey’s River in Wyoming, I headed south on scenic highway 89, then across the dusty plains to Green River. From there I headed south along the western flank of Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. The
The beaches of ol’ Flaming Gorge Read More »
Day 8 of my border-to-border road trip. After leaving Red Rocks National Wildlife Refuge, I headed east to Yellowstone. With all the wet weather and cooler temperatures, I thought some of the crowds might have stayed away but boy, was I wrong. In spite of the weather and being in the middle of the week,
Osprey on the Grey’s River Read More »
