It seems as if every mountain range in the southwest has had a huge wildfire in the last decade or so. Millions of acres burned, forests charred, ecosystems altered. If the drought continues, it may be millennia before some of the dryer, south-facing slopes see a forest again. The Horseshoe 2 fire burned in the […]
After the fire, the flowers bloom Read More »
Four species of doves nest in my neighborhood – Mourning, White-winged, Inca, and Eurasian Collared doves. The most common nests are those of Mourning Doves. Last spring, a pair decided to build their flimsy stick nest on top of the porch light right outside my front door. They’ve tried this in years past, but usually
A Mourning Dove Murder Mystery Read More »
Spring has finally arrived in the mountains of southern Arizona. Little flowers are starting to appear, and birds are starting to sing. Last week I took one of my favorite hikes in the Huachuca (wa-choo-ka) Mountains, up to Blacktail Pond. It’s a steep hike up a very rocky road, but the views of the surrounding
Spring in the Huachuca Mountains Read More »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
