Recording | Sitka Nature https://www.sitkanature.org On a Lifelong Journey to Learn my Place Tue, 22 Feb 2022 07:32:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://i0.wp.com/www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/cropped-raven_trees_watermark_8.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Recording | Sitka Nature https://www.sitkanature.org 32 32 20990835 Eurasian Collared-Dove https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2010/05/30/eurasian-collared-dove-2/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2010/05/30/eurasian-collared-dove-2/#comments Sun, 30 May 2010 17:20:46 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=3379 Download Audio Clip Eurasian Collared-Doves have only been reported in Alaska for a couple of years, and I think last summer was the first time any were reported in Sitka. However, their numbers do seem to be expanding, so it remains to be seen how common this bird becomes and in what seasons. The recording ... Read more

The post Eurasian Collared-Dove first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]>


Download Audio Clip

Eurasian Collared-Doves have only been reported in Alaska for a couple of years, and I think last summer was the first time any were reported in Sitka. However, their numbers do seem to be expanding, so it remains to be seen how common this bird becomes and in what seasons.

The recording above features a Eurasian Collared-Dove making the lower frequency (compared to other birds) cooing/hooting sound.

The post Eurasian Collared-Dove first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2010/05/30/eurasian-collared-dove-2/feed/ 4 3379 WR: November Highlights https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/30/wr-november-highlights/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/30/wr-november-highlights/#respond Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:58:31 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=3024 A trip in mid-November interrupted my recording habit, and it took a while to get back into it. Things seem to be pretty quiet most nights, and I decided to collapse a few of the highlights from the few nights in November I recorded but did not yet post. A Chestnut-backed Chickadee and Red-breasted Nuthatch ... Read more

The post WR: November Highlights first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> A trip in mid-November interrupted my recording habit, and it took a while to get back into it. Things seem to be pretty quiet most nights, and I decided to collapse a few of the highlights from the few nights in November I recorded but did not yet post.

A Chestnut-backed Chickadee and Red-breasted Nuthatch trade calls. This was one of the last times I heard a nuthatch around the house, though I have heard them elsewhere in town, since. Recorded the morning of 11 November.

After my return, the Bald Eagles seemed to be the first birds to greet the day. Some mornings they are perched in the trees right behind the house. Recorded morning of 29 November.

The night of the 29-30 November, was a busy one for Marbled Murrelets. There are two clips on this recording, the first one sounds like the bird was quite close, and if I’m interpreting the sound correctly, there’s the smear of an echo with it. The second was from 10 or 15 seconds later, more distant. Perhaps the same bird on a return flight? Recorded at 03:28 am.

Chestnut-backed Chickadees are reputed to be cheerful even in foul weather. This one didn’t seemed to have its spirits dampened by the chilly November rain.

Ravens make a wide variety of different calls. On this recording there are three different clips with 4 different types of calls in the foreground (and another in the far background). Perhaps some day I’ll come up with descriptive names for the different ones I record. Recorded morning of 30 November.

More Raven calls, these from the morning of 1 December. This clip features what I might call the frog croak call as well as the more typical caw.

The post WR: November Highlights first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/30/wr-november-highlights/feed/ 0 3024 WR: Night Forty https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/09/wr-night-forty/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/09/wr-night-forty/#respond Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:32:58 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=3014 Clear skies with chilly temperatures made for a nice quiet night, weather-wise. Except for a distant eagle calling at 2:30, the only thing I heard until nearly daylight was River Otters chirping. The started about 2:35 and continued through almost 4. They were so faint for much of that time, I suspect in other weather ... Read more

The post WR: Night Forty first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Clear skies with chilly temperatures made for a nice quiet night, weather-wise. Except for a distant eagle calling at 2:30, the only thing I heard until nearly daylight was River Otters chirping. The started about 2:35 and continued through almost 4. They were so faint for much of that time, I suspect in other weather conditions, I would not have caught them. Once it started getting light, I did pick up more calls, as expected. Ravens led off the morning dialog with the first calls at 6:35. About 10 minutes later, the first Bald Eagle added its voice. I was treated to a Trumpeter Swan flyby a few minutes before 7. It must not have been too close, as I couldn’t hear the feather whistling, but the calls were fairly distinctive. I also picked up a couple of other new species for these recordings, a Hairy Woodpecker and Dark-eyed Juncos.

Trumpeter Swan: At first I was not even sure this was an animal call. After a couple of listens I realized it sounded like a swan, and a quick check of the Birds of Alaska CD confirmed it. Download Trumpeter Swan

Hairy Woodpecker: I am not absolutely sure about this call, but I’m confident that it’s a woodpecker. Although it seems clear the woodpecker must be flying from left to right, the wingbeats that are heard in this clip are probably from a Raven, not the woodpecker.
Download Hairy Woodpecker

Dark-eyed Juncos: These juncos were getting after each other a bit. In recent days I have been realizing that I have not seen many Dark-eyed Juncos around lately. I’m not sure why that is, but apparently they’ve returned to the neighborhood for at least one morning.
Download Dark-eyed Juncos

The post WR: Night Forty first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/09/wr-night-forty/feed/ 0 3014 WR: Night Thirty-nine https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/08/wr-night-thirty-nine/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/08/wr-night-thirty-nine/#comments Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:51:22 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=3004 Another quiet night weather-wise. Despite the good listening conditions throughout the night, I did not pick up much on the recording. There was a distant Western Screech-Owl near 7am that I was barely able to pick out from the almost as distant raven calls. A raven gave a brief croak around 2:30am, perhaps an interesting ... Read more

The post WR: Night Thirty-nine first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Another quiet night weather-wise. Despite the good listening conditions throughout the night, I did not pick up much on the recording. There was a distant Western Screech-Owl near 7am that I was barely able to pick out from the almost as distant raven calls. A raven gave a brief croak around 2:30am, perhaps an interesting dream? The first morning bird of the day was a Bald Eagle just before 6:30, the Ravens were next about 10 minutes later.

Mystery Call: I have no idea what made this noise.
Download Mystery Call

Songbird Chirps: Context seems to be fairly important for identification at times. I’m pretty sure these are chirps from a Dark-eyed Junco right outside the window. I know it’s a small song bird, but without being able to see the bird, I’m not positive about the id. Normally such chirps would alert me and I would look to see the bird. Most likely, even a quick flash would be enough to id it at that point, but without more context, I’m not confident in the id with just the sounds.
Download Songbird Chirps

The post WR: Night Thirty-nine first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/08/wr-night-thirty-nine/feed/ 2 3004 WR: Night Thirty-eight https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/07/wr-night-thirty-eight/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/07/wr-night-thirty-eight/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:04:36 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=3001 Rain, heavy at times (with some associated wind) periodically through the night. Between showers there was a pretty steady dripping of water. I did notice the sound of the drops off the roof have changed. I think it’s because the leaves have fallen off the salmonberries that are growing against the house. Got the best ... Read more

The post WR: Night Thirty-eight first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Rain, heavy at times (with some associated wind) periodically through the night. Between showers there was a pretty steady dripping of water. I did notice the sound of the drops off the roof have changed. I think it’s because the leaves have fallen off the salmonberries that are growing against the house. Got the best capture yet of the Mystery Bird that sounds rather shorebird-like. Also picked up Marbled Murrelets between 5:40 and 6.


Mystery Call: These are the strongest three calls I got. I could hear 7 of them all together, starting quietly, building in strength and then fading again. Presumably that represents a flyby, but I still don’t know what species it might be. The shorebirds I would expect to be seeing this time of year do not sound like this, as far as I know.

The post WR: Night Thirty-eight first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/07/wr-night-thirty-eight/feed/ 1 3001 WR: Night Thirty-seven https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/06/wr-night-thirty-seven/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/06/wr-night-thirty-seven/#respond Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:43:25 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2996 It started out calm, but the wind picked up a little before 2. There was a far distant Western Screech-owl calling for a little while. It was quite faint, and I would not have noticed it had the wind not been still at that point. The first Marbled Murrelet call I caught was at 01:17, ... Read more

The post WR: Night Thirty-seven first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> It started out calm, but the wind picked up a little before 2. There was a far distant Western Screech-owl calling for a little while. It was quite faint, and I would not have noticed it had the wind not been still at that point. The first Marbled Murrelet call I caught was at 01:17, quite early. I didn’t notice any more until around 4:30 and then again at 5:30.



Marbled Murrelets: I suspect all of these are Marbled Murrelets. I’m confident in the first one, and the last part of the second, but less so about the others, as the calls are more like chirps than the ‘keer’ calls of Marbled Murrelets. However, I would not be surprised if Marbled Murrelets chirp also. The initial chirps in the second clip have a very similar sound quality to the following ‘keer’ calls, so it seems likely to be a Marbled Murrelet throughout. Trying to puzzle these chirps out has made me curious if Marbled Murrelets might respond to River Otters chirping.

The post WR: Night Thirty-seven first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/06/wr-night-thirty-seven/feed/ 0 2996 WR: Night Thirty-six https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/05/wr-night-thirty-six/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/05/wr-night-thirty-six/#respond Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:18:06 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2992 Another quiet night overall with some day-birds making calls at night. This time it was Pine Siskins calling at 2:40 and again at around 5. There were just two calls that I took to be from a Marbled Murrelet at about 5:45. Mystery Call: In a different context, I’m pretty sure I would recognize this ... Read more

The post WR: Night Thirty-six first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Another quiet night overall with some day-birds making calls at night. This time it was Pine Siskins calling at 2:40 and again at around 5. There were just two calls that I took to be from a Marbled Murrelet at about 5:45.

Mystery Call: In a different context, I’m pretty sure I would recognize this call. For some reason I can’t place it in this recording, however. I’m thinking it might be a Pine Siskin, however. Recorded at 01:12. Download Mystery Call

Pine Siskins This is the better of the two Pine Siskin calls I caught. I’m not sure what they were doing in the middle of the night.
Download Pine Siskins

The post WR: Night Thirty-six first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/05/wr-night-thirty-six/feed/ 0 2992 WR: Night Thirty-five https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/04/wr-night-thirty-five/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/04/wr-night-thirty-five/#respond Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:08:45 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2989 It was a quiet night overall. I suspect this will be the case for much of the winter. The most interesting thing I noticed was a Bald Eagle calling some distance away a little after midnight. Perhaps it was disturbed by something, or maybe just had a bad dream. Download Bald Eagle Calls

The post WR: Night Thirty-five first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> It was a quiet night overall. I suspect this will be the case for much of the winter. The most interesting thing I noticed was a Bald Eagle calling some distance away a little after midnight. Perhaps it was disturbed by something, or maybe just had a bad dream.

Download Bald Eagle Calls

The post WR: Night Thirty-five first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/04/wr-night-thirty-five/feed/ 0 2989 WR: Night Thirty-four https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/03/wr-night-thirty-four/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/03/wr-night-thirty-four/#comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:33:38 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2981 Thanks to some helpful folks for responding to a help request, I now realize that the otter/mystery calls are Marbled Murrelets. I’m pretty sure that the straight chirping calls are otters, but the other more gull-like calls are murrelets. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it before, I guess I did not expect ... Read more

The post WR: Night Thirty-four first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Thanks to some helpful folks for responding to a help request, I now realize that the otter/mystery calls are Marbled Murrelets. I’m pretty sure that the straight chirping calls are otters, but the other more gull-like calls are murrelets. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it before, I guess I did not expect to have them flying over the house.



Marbled Murrelets: The first Marbled Murrelet calls I noticed were just before 3am. They continued on sporadically through at last 5am. It’s not really known why Marbled Murrelets fly inland during the night throughout the year, though in the summer they do so to visit their nests.
Download Marbled Murrelet 1
Download Marbled Murrelet 2
Download Marbled Murrelet 3

Mystery Call: There’s probably not much hope for figuring out this call. The first call is obscured somewhat by a Marbled Murrelet call, and a second call is much fainter.
Mystery Call

Duck Flyover: I think I’ll try to start paying more attention to the sound of ducks flying in order to see if I can figure out species by the sound of their flight.
Duck Flyover

Raven Calls: Another Raven vocalization that I’ve not caught on recording previously.
Download Raven Calls

The post WR: Night Thirty-four first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/03/wr-night-thirty-four/feed/ 2 2981 WR: Night Thirty-three https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/02/wr-night-thirty-three/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/02/wr-night-thirty-three/#respond Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:05:27 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2975 I did not hear much through the steady rain. There was an otter a little before 4am, then more otters and mystery calls between 5 and 5:30. One of the mystery calls was the shorebird-like calls. There was more than one call this time, but none of them were as loud or clear as the ... Read more

The post WR: Night Thirty-three first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> I did not hear much through the steady rain. There was an otter a little before 4am, then more otters and mystery calls between 5 and 5:30. One of the mystery calls was the shorebird-like calls. There was more than one call this time, but none of them were as loud or clear as the clip I posted a few days ago.

River Otter Mystery Calls: I’m still puzzled by these River Otter/Mystery Calls. In this clip, it seems as though there’s an echo effect smearing the call somewhat, though in the very last call, there is not really any echo. It’s hard for me tell for sure if the final call is the same as the earlier ones, though it seems like maybe it is.
Download River Otter Mystery Calls

River Otter and Mystery Calls: Recorded only 5 minutes or so after the previous clip, this starts out with what I’m pretty confident is a River Otter. About halfway through, the calls change to the mystery calls that sound kind of like gulls to me.
Download River Otter and Mystery Calls

Early Rising Bald Eagle: This Bald Eagle probably spent the night in a tree behind the house. It was up early on a rainy Sunday, though given the time change last night, it was not as early as it might have otherwise seemed. Recorded at 06:37.
Download Early Rising Bald Eagle

The post WR: Night Thirty-three first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/02/wr-night-thirty-three/feed/ 0 2975 WR: Night Thirty-two https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/01/wr-night-thirty-two/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/01/wr-night-thirty-two/#respond Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:28:07 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2971 Another quiet night. The first calls I noticed were not until a little after 5am, when there were a few River Otter chirps. There were more an hour later. A little surprising was a series of Western Screech-owl calls around 7:30am that lasted for a couple of minutes. It was no longer dark at that ... Read more

The post WR: Night Thirty-two first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Another quiet night. The first calls I noticed were not until a little after 5am, when there were a few River Otter chirps. There were more an hour later. A little surprising was a series of Western Screech-owl calls around 7:30am that lasted for a couple of minutes. It was no longer dark at that time, and there had already been some other birds calling. I’ve included 40 seconds or so of it.

Western Screech-owl: This sounded close enough that it must have been in one of the trees near the house. Recorded at 07:34.
Download Western Screech-owl

Raven: This is a Raven call variant that I hadn’t recorded yet. These calls went on like this for over 10 minutes, though this clip is not nearly so long.
Download Raven

The post WR: Night Thirty-two first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/11/01/wr-night-thirty-two/feed/ 0 2971 WR: Night Thirty-one https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/31/wr-night-thirty-one/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/31/wr-night-thirty-one/#respond Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:35:12 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2967 There was an Owl calling last night around 12:45 and River Otters chirping around 3 and 5am. This morning there was an interesting intro to Red Squirrel chatter that I’ve included a clip of. River Otter and Mystery Calls: More of the River Otter and Mystery Calls. In this clip, there is an otter chirping, ... Read more

The post WR: Night Thirty-one first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> There was an Owl calling last night around 12:45 and River Otters chirping around 3 and 5am. This morning there was an interesting intro to Red Squirrel chatter that I’ve included a clip of.

River Otter and Mystery Calls: More of the River Otter and Mystery Calls. In this clip, there is an otter chirping, then the mystery (possibly gull?) call comes in with the otter. It sounds to me like the second type of call is from an animal that’s moving around faster than I would expect an otter to (which would incline me to think it’s a bird), but I am uncertain how well I can actually interpret the spatial cues in these recordings.
Download River Otter and Mystery Calls

Red Squirrel: The rapid call at the beginning of this clip was something I don’t remember hearing before.
Download Red Squirrel

The post WR: Night Thirty-one first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/31/wr-night-thirty-one/feed/ 0 2967 WR: Night Thirty https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/30/wr-night-thirty/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/30/wr-night-thirty/#comments Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:18:08 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2963 Fairly quiet night. There were some distant owl calls around 5:50 this morning, but nothing clear enough to inspire me to upload a clip. Mostly I’m trying to keep track of how often the owls vocalize. The wind and rain make it hard to say for sure, but it seems like a sizable proportion of ... Read more

The post WR: Night Thirty first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Fairly quiet night. There were some distant owl calls around 5:50 this morning, but nothing clear enough to inspire me to upload a clip. Mostly I’m trying to keep track of how often the owls vocalize. The wind and rain make it hard to say for sure, but it seems like a sizable proportion of days when it’s quiet enough to hear owls without them be right in the back yard, I do catch one at some point during the night.

Mystery Call: This is a very brief single call. It doesn’t sound at all familiar to me.
Download Mystery Call

Bird Calls: This clip consists of the last 30 seconds of Winter Wren calls that lasted for close to two minutes. I’m not sure whether it was alarming something or not. Also of interest is the bird that starts calling in the last few seconds. I think it is a Chestnut-backed Chickadee, but I am not sure about that.
Download Bird Calls

The post WR: Night Thirty first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/30/wr-night-thirty/feed/ 2 2963 WR: Night Twenty-nine https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/29/wr-night-twenty-nine/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/29/wr-night-twenty-nine/#respond Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:13:19 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2960 A quiet night. I did catch a single shorebird-like call again, but did not include the clip since it was basically the same as yesterday’s. Varied Thrush Calls: This Varied Thrush gave a nice demonstration of some of the different calls they make. Download Varied Thrush Calls

The post WR: Night Twenty-nine first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> A quiet night. I did catch a single shorebird-like call again, but did not include the clip since it was basically the same as yesterday’s.

Varied Thrush Calls: This Varied Thrush gave a nice demonstration of some of the different calls they make.
Download Varied Thrush Calls

The post WR: Night Twenty-nine first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/29/wr-night-twenty-nine/feed/ 0 2960 WR: Night Twenty-eight https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/28/wr-night-twenty-eight/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/28/wr-night-twenty-eight/#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:04:21 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2950 More mystery calls last night. Also caught a distant screech-owl a couple of different times, but did not include a clip since its calls were fairly quiet and did not really sound any different than other ones I’ve posted previously. The wind kicked up a bit as daylight came. Otter/Mystery Calls: I think the calls ... Read more

The post WR: Night Twenty-eight first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> More mystery calls last night. Also caught a distant screech-owl a couple of different times, but did not include a clip since its calls were fairly quiet and did not really sound any different than other ones I’ve posted previously. The wind kicked up a bit as daylight came.

Otter/Mystery Calls: I think the calls at the start of clip are from a River Otter, but I’m not sure. They sound somewhat like the mystery calls that I was thinking might be gulls from the night before. The last couple of calls near the end (after a couple of seconds without any) sound (and look on the spectrogram) qualitatively different, but that could be due to proximity and/or echo effects, I suppose.
Download Otter/Mystery Calls

Otter/Mystery Calls: In this clip I’m pretty confident there are otter chirps, I do not know why a Gull would be calling along with an otter, so this clip makes me suspect that the calls I was thinking were gulls may actually be otter vocalizations.
Download Otter/Mystery Calls

Duck Flight: I am pretty sure the whistling noises in this clip are from the wing feathers of flying ducks. I’m not sure what species (nor whether it is possible to tell the species by this sound). I think they may have flown a circle around the neighborhood, as the sound lasted for longer than I would expect on a direct fly-over (though I didn’t include everything in this clip).
Download Duck Flight

Mystery Call: A single call that I believe I’ve heard before (and included a clip of). It sounds rather shorebird-like, and it occured to me that it may be a Wilson’s Snipe. However, none of the recordings I have found so far of Wilson’s Snipe include a call like this.
Download Mystery Call

Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Wind: Chestnut-backed Chickadees calling while the wind blows through the trees.
Download Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Wind

Raven Calls and Wind: I think this fast calling Raven was flying, but I’m not sure.
Download Raven Calls and Wind

The post WR: Night Twenty-eight first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/28/wr-night-twenty-eight/feed/ 1 2950 WR: Night Twenty-seven https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/27/wr-night-twenty-seven/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/27/wr-night-twenty-seven/#respond Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:53:15 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2944 Rain off and on through the night and morning. Quite a bit of activity in the early hours of the morning. I can’t decide whether the calls were from Gulls, Otters, or both. Mystery Calls: These calls started around 4am, and continued off and on for the next couple of hours, at least. I have ... Read more

The post WR: Night Twenty-seven first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Rain off and on through the night and morning. Quite a bit of activity in the early hours of the morning. I can’t decide whether the calls were from Gulls, Otters, or both.

Mystery Calls: These calls started around 4am, and continued off and on for the next couple of hours, at least. I have included three different clips. Mostly they sound like gulls to me, but I am not sure why gulls would be out and about this early in the morning (well before daylight). Some of the calls are slightly more reminiscent of River Otter chirps, and I am unsure of the range of otter vocalizations, so perhaps they are otters.

Download Mystery Calls 0410

Download Mystery Calls 0442

Download Mystery Calls 0541

Morning Birds The birds were quite vocal for several minutes this morning. This clip has Ravens, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Golden-crowned Kinglets.
Download Morning Birds

The post WR: Night Twenty-seven first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/27/wr-night-twenty-seven/feed/ 0 2944 WR: Night Twenty-six https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/26/wr-night-twenty-six/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/26/wr-night-twenty-six/#respond Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:51:29 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2937 It didn’t start out windy yesterday night, but the wind picked up during the night and seemed to blow as strong, or stronger, around the house as it has on any of the previous nights. Forecasted windspeeds were lower, so perhaps the direction was more conducive this area to feel the full force of it. ... Read more

The post WR: Night Twenty-six first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> It didn’t start out windy yesterday night, but the wind picked up during the night and seemed to blow as strong, or stronger, around the house as it has on any of the previous nights. Forecasted windspeeds were lower, so perhaps the direction was more conducive this area to feel the full force of it.

Mystery Call: I suspect this is a River Otter. It’s in the same frequency and has a similar tone quaity to the chirps, but it’s more drawn out. There are two vocalizations with a car driving pulling away in a nearby gravel parking lot between. Recorded at 22:33. Download Mystery Call

Mystery Call: I have no idea what this call is from. It was quite faint, and may be difficult to make out above the noise. I have included an additional clip which has had a noise-removal filter applied. I think the call is more or less intact, but there are definite artifacts in the background. Recorded at 23:16.Download Mystery Call

De-noised Version:

Download de-noised version

Mystery Call: This is a very short clip of a single call. It sounds most like a peep (the collective term for several species of small shorebirds), though I do not know why one of those would be flying around here now. Recorded at 00:58. Download Mystery Call

The post WR: Night Twenty-six first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/26/wr-night-twenty-six/feed/ 0 2937 WR: Night Twenty-five https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/25/wr-night-twenty-five/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/25/wr-night-twenty-five/#respond Sun, 26 Oct 2008 02:54:50 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2921 Yet another night with strong winds, though they died down a bit this morning. Wind Gust: The wind was really blowing through the trees at various times last night. Recorded at 00:57. Download Wind Gust River Otter and Mystery Sound: Another clip of river otter chirping in the distance on a windy evening made more ... Read more

The post WR: Night Twenty-five first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Yet another night with strong winds, though they died down a bit this morning.

Wind Gust: The wind was really blowing through the trees at various times last night. Recorded at 00:57. Download Wind Gust

River Otter and Mystery Sound: Another clip of river otter chirping in the distance on a windy evening made more interesting by some strange high frequency sounds. I do not remember noticing them when I first went through the recording, but I cannot figure out how they would have been introduced during a simple copy/paste operation. I have included a Spectrogram of the clip to show how the mystery sounds extend out of the frequency range I can easily hear. It seems odd that they go through each channel sequentially, but I am at a loss to explain why that might happen. At this point I am thinking it’s most likely some type of interference, though perhaps it is biological in origin. Download River Otter and Mystery Sound

Varied Thrush: Another type of call from Varied Thrush. Recorded at 08:25. Download Varied Thrush

The post WR: Night Twenty-five first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/25/wr-night-twenty-five/feed/ 0 2921 WR: Night Twenty-four https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/24/wr-night-twenty-four/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/24/wr-night-twenty-four/#respond Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:42:16 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2924 Another windy night. Caught some Bald Eagle dialog this morning. Maybe someday I’ll learn what they’re talking about. Bald Eagle Dialog: Recorded at 08:33. Download Bald Eagle Dialog

The post WR: Night Twenty-four first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Another windy night. Caught some Bald Eagle dialog this morning. Maybe someday I’ll learn what they’re talking about.

Bald Eagle Dialog: Recorded at 08:33.

Download Bald Eagle Dialog

The post WR: Night Twenty-four first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/24/wr-night-twenty-four/feed/ 0 2924 WR: Night Twenty-three https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/23/wr-night-twenty-three/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/23/wr-night-twenty-three/#respond Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:21:52 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2916 Another stormy night with lots of wind and rain through much of the night, especially the very early morning hours. Mystery Call: This is almost certainly a gull. I am not sure which species, though. My best guess would be a Mew Gull or maybe a Thayer’s Gull. I do not know what it was ... Read more

The post WR: Night Twenty-three first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Another stormy night with lots of wind and rain through much of the night, especially the very early morning hours.

Mystery Call: This is almost certainly a gull. I am not sure which species, though. My best guess would be a Mew Gull or maybe a Thayer’s Gull. I do not know what it was doing flying over at 00:57 during a relatively calm period before the wind and rain kicked up again. Download Mystery Call

Birds in the Storm: The small song birds don’t have the luxury of waiting out hard weather. This short clip is of kinglets or chickadees calls that can be heard over rain and wind. Recorded at 08:26. Download Birds in the Storm

The post WR: Night Twenty-three first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/23/wr-night-twenty-three/feed/ 0 2916 WR: Night Twenty-two https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/22/wr-night-twenty-two/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/22/wr-night-twenty-two/#respond Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:59:27 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2912 The night before last, I did not get anything that I saved from the recording. Last night was incredibly windy, and I did not find anything other than wind on the recording until after sunrise. Wind: The wind blew strongly throughout much the night. In this clip, it’s possible to hear moving through the trees ... Read more

The post WR: Night Twenty-two first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> The night before last, I did not get anything that I saved from the recording. Last night was incredibly windy, and I did not find anything other than wind on the recording until after sunrise.

Wind: The wind blew strongly throughout much the night. In this clip, it’s possible to hear moving through the trees in the backyard.
Recorded at 03:02. Download Wind

Ravens: I’m not sure what these Ravens were doing. Recorded 09:15. Download Ravens

The post WR: Night Twenty-two first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/22/wr-night-twenty-two/feed/ 0 2912 WR: Night Twenty https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/20/wr-night-twenty/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/20/wr-night-twenty/#respond Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:41:26 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2910 A quiet night, I did not catch much other than dogs barking. All the clips today are from after sunrise this morning. Red Squirrel: Recorded at 07:41. Download Red Squirrel Varied Thrush: Both ‘songs’ and their contact calls (sound like ‘chup’) can be here. I think the singing birds might be hatch year individuals, as ... Read more

The post WR: Night Twenty first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> A quiet night, I did not catch much other than dogs barking. All the clips today are from after sunrise this morning.

Red Squirrel: Recorded at 07:41. Download Red Squirrel

Varied Thrush: Both ‘songs’ and their contact calls (sound like ‘chup’) can be here. I think the singing birds might be hatch year individuals, as they sound somewhat tentative. Recorded at 07:42. Download Varied Thrush

Varied Thrush: What I take to be a single bird practicing his(?) singing. Recorded at 07:46. Download Varied Thrush

The post WR: Night Twenty first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/20/wr-night-twenty/feed/ 0 2910 WR: Night Eighteen https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/18/wr-night-eighteen/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/18/wr-night-eighteen/#respond Sun, 19 Oct 2008 05:00:40 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2901 Another quiet night. I did pick up Pine Siskins this morning. They’re a common species most years, but they haven’t been around the neighborhood too much lately. This was the first time I heard them on one of these recordings. Red Squirrel: I am not sure what, if anything, this type of vocalization means coming ... Read more

The post WR: Night Eighteen first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Another quiet night. I did pick up Pine Siskins this morning. They’re a common species most years, but they haven’t been around the neighborhood too much lately. This was the first time I heard them on one of these recordings.

Red Squirrel: I am not sure what, if anything, this type of vocalization means coming from a Red Squirrel. They can (and this one did, though I cut the clip short) go on for several minutes chattering away like this. Download Red Squirrel

Pine Siskins: One of the fairly distinctive elements to Pine Siskin vocalization is the zipper call. That call can be heard a couple of times in this clip. Download Pine Siskins

Mystery Calls: I am pretty sure these are from a Varied Thrush, but it’s not their typical sound.Download Mystery Calls

Winter Wren Singing: Although they are not singing as frequently or powerfully, the Winter Wrens are still occasionally belting out a stanza or two of song. I am not sure when/if the Winter Wrens stop singing completely for the winter.Download Winter Wren Singing

The post WR: Night Eighteen first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/18/wr-night-eighteen/feed/ 0 2901 WR: Night Seventeen https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/17/wr-night-seventeen/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/17/wr-night-seventeen/#comments Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:23:26 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2897 After looking for the first few hours and only finding some faint River Otter chirps, I thought last night’s recordings would end up being pretty quiet. However, I was excited to find the clearest recording I’ve yet had of what I believe to be a Western Screech Owl. That was a nice highlight for an ... Read more

The post WR: Night Seventeen first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> After looking for the first few hours and only finding some faint River Otter chirps, I thought last night’s recordings would end up being pretty quiet. However, I was excited to find the clearest recording I’ve yet had of what I believe to be a Western Screech Owl. That was a nice highlight for an otherwise quiet night (well, quiet, but for the persistent rain).

Presusmed Western Screech Owl: These are not the typical ‘bouncing-ball’ calls of the Western Screech Owl, though at the very end of the clip one can be heard faintly. At about 1:30 into the recording, there is a loud, but brief, call from a Bald Eagle. It sounds almost as though the eagle was disturbed by the owl. The owl continued with similar calls for another couple of minutes. I clipped most of these for space considerations, though I did put in the last call with the faint bouncing-ball call. Download Presumed Western Screech Owl

Red Squirrel Chattering: Listening to this squirrel chattering made me wonder how they can put out so much sound for a sustained period from such a small set of lungs, apparently without breathing. Download Red Squirrel

The post WR: Night Seventeen first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/17/wr-night-seventeen/feed/ 1 2897 WR: Night Sixteen https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/16/wr-night-sixteen/ https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/16/wr-night-sixteen/#respond Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:28:41 +0000 http://www.sitkanature.org/?p=2869 Another quiet night with rain through much of it. I’m thinking this may be the norm through the rest of the fall and winter. Assuming this is correct, it will be interesting to see when things pick up in the spring. Chirps: I believe these are from a River Otter, but I can’t quite decide ... Read more

The post WR: Night Sixteen first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> Another quiet night with rain through much of it. I’m thinking this may be the norm through the rest of the fall and winter. Assuming this is correct, it will be interesting to see when things pick up in the spring.


Chirps: I believe these are from a River Otter, but I can’t quite decide whether there’s an echo going on, multiple individuals, or perhaps both.
Download Chirps


Mystery Call: At first I thought this might be a variant of the otter chirps, but upon repeated listenings, it also sounds something like a Shorebird. Download Mystery Call

The post WR: Night Sixteen first appeared on Sitka Nature.]]> https://www.sitkanature.org/photojournal/2008/10/16/wr-night-sixteen/feed/ 0 2869