California

Shooting star in bloom.

At last, spring arrives

It seemed like it would never come. After months and months of snow and ice, spring finally appears to be here. And after a wet winter and spring, the plants and animals are responding with vigor. I can’t keep up with the lawn and weeds in my yard, but I’m still pleasantly surprised when I […]

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Dead Trees Talking

Dead Trees Talking Read More »

July Trip, 2022

Like most summers, this year I took a trip in late June/early July, ostensibly to save Shadow from the horrors of 4th of July fireworks.  And once again, I found myself on border between northern California, northern Nevada, and southern Oregon.  It was a good trip, with a few breezes, but overall good weather, no

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Tall pines reach for the sky in the Sierra foothills.

Early spring in the Sierra Nevada foothills

Spring has arrived full force in the western US, and with it the bird breeding season.  Resident birds and newly arrived migrants are singing up a storm as they set up territories and attract mates, adding an incredible sonorous background to our daily lives.  In early April, I headed over the Sierras to see and

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Sunrise on the lower Colorado River, California

Best laid plans

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

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View of the Warner Mountains from the east.

Exploring the Warner Mountains

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.  

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Retrospective

Well, it’s been quite a while since I posted here, as I’ve been recovering from knee replacement surgery.  Recovery has been quite the ordeal, with hours and hours of physical therapy every day.  But the strength and flexibility is coming back, just in time, as the trees and shrubs are starting to bud, the spring

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Voices in the forest

Last October, the dog and I took a lovely hike down Summit City Canyon, near Carson Pass in the Sierras.  I last hiked this canyon more than 40 years ago, and remembered it as one of my all-time favorites.  The only problem with it is that there is no easy way to get there.  Most

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The lost coast of California

The Lost Coast

It’s been an incredibly busy spring, with little time to get away and record nature sounds.  But in late May, I took a break from house renovation and writing projects to escape to northern California.  My goal was to try to capture sounds within the coastal redwoods.  In the right conditions, these giant trees can

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Mojave Desert Preserve, with Kelso Dunes in the distance.

Spring in the Mojave Desert

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

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Canada geese on the Carson River

The dead-end river

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

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