In early September, I set off to check on a couple of my acoustic monitoring stations near Beatty, Nevada (more on that in an upcoming blog post). As I was already on the road, I decided to make a real road trip out of it and check out a spot in Utah that’s been eluding […]
Vanishing voices: Pinyon Jays and the changing Nevada landscape Read More »
After visiting the prairies last summer, I decided it was time to spend some time in the forest. Not the open forests of the eastern Sierra, but the deep, dark forests of the Cascades and Klamath Mountains. Where giant pines and firs reach for the skies. I’ve visited the area before, but it was usually
Visiting the southern Cascades and Klamath Mountains Read More »
After I waved goodbye to the Black Hills, I made my way to Ten Sleep, Wyoming. I drove through the Bighorn Mountains, which were still rocking fresh snow from recent storms. It was the last week of May, but winter held the mountains firm in a wintery grip. All the campgrounds were still closed, while
In late May 2024, as part of my prairie recording expedition with Lang Elliott and Beth Bannister, I checked out Red Bird Canyon in the southern Black Hills of South Dakota. I arrived there late in the afternoon after being pushed across Wyoming by a strong tailwind. Although not very deep or extensive, the canyon
Back in the middle of May, I packed up my car and my dog and headed east to meet up with some friends in South Dakota. Lang Elliott and Beth Bannister were heading west from New York state to get some prairie sound recordings, beginning in Kansas, moving west to eastern Colorado, then heading north
Dawn at Cleve Creek Read More »
Although I’ve recorded in many parts of the southern half of Oregon, I’ve never visited the northeastern portion. This area is known to be home to some beautiful mountain ranges and lots of wildlife. I realized after my earlier trips this spring, that I’d fallen into a rut of visiting the same places again and
Exploring northeastern Oregon, Part 1 Read More »
I was cleaning up my archive of nature sound recordings and ran across a lovely pre-dawn recording from the mountains north of Mimbres, New Mexico. In this rather remote area between two large wilderness areas was a small USFS campground where I stayed for a couple of nights back in June of 2015. It was
The only constant is change Read More »
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
Early spring in the Sierra Nevada foothills Read More »
As I usually do in early July, this last summer the dog and I headed off to the hinterlands of northern Nevada. The trip is timed to allow us to get far from civilization to spare Shadow the horrors of fireworks. This years trip took us across central Nevada to Ruby Lakes Wildlife Refuge, then
That time when the dog got stoned Read More »
On our recording trip this last spring, Lang Elliott and I stopped by a beautiful area of Sonoran Desert, east of Roosevelt Lake, known as Cherry Creek. I’d never heard of it before but was instantly struck by its rugged beauty. Cherry Creek, and nearby Coon Creek, are lovely drainages with rich riparian areas lined
Timings and transitions Read More »
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 »
