This is a consolidated edit of some of the Roosevelt Elk sounds I recorded on my recent journey to the Hoh Rainforest. Hear bull elk bugles and chuckles, as well as cow elk mews, echoing in the dense mossy forest along the Hoh River Trail.

A Chorus of Varied Thrush, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Pacific Wren, Pine Warblers, American Robin, and the occasional squirrel. I set-up my overnight tree ears rig to capture the sounds of a small, grassy, forest clearing on the Graves Creek trail. Not so fun fact, this recording was made on June 28th, which is now the hottest day ever recording in this part of Washington. Fortunately, it was nice and cool in the rainforest at dawn. I specifically selected this portion of the recording because it highlights the musicality of varied thrush. While their songs don’t have much movement in terms of pitch, the central frequency of each individual song can vary over a range of 2-6kHz, while also varying in depth of harmonics. When singing together at dawn, their sing notes combine to construct a peaceful morning melody that resonating through the dense forest. This “tree ears” recording is best experienced with headphones, as the mic set-up creates a pseudo-binaural listening experience. Recorded with a pair of LOM Usi and Mix Pre 6.

A brief snippet from an overnight “tree ears” recording I made out in the Staircase area of Olympic National Park. Around dusk, a Hairy Woodpecker drum reverberates through the dense mossy forest and sounds almost like the forest is snoring… The distant wash of the North Fork Skokomish River adds a lushness to the soundscape that gets me ready to take nap. This recording is best experienced with headphones, as the tree ears mic set-up creates a pseudo-binaural listening experience. Recorded with a pair of LOM Usi and Mix Pre 6.

The Lyre Conservation Area sits just east of where the lyre river empties into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This soundscape composition, featuring two different recordings captured on a crisp fall morning in November, encapsulates the distant booming of waves heard from the edge of the mossy forests and the soothing splashes up close on a rocky beach.

Dawn in early March – hear songbirds, seagulls, woodpeckers, crows resonate across a coastal cove in South Bristol, Maine. Recorded with a spaced-pair of Usi Pro’s into a mixpre6.

Coastal soundscape recorded at Cape Lookout National Seashore in mid-June. Hear a wide diversity of seabirds/song birds, insects, crickets, against the lull of the Atlantic ocean on the coast of the Outer banks, NC.

Brokenstraw State Forest – Panama, NY: The southern entrance of the state Forest consists of a very dense and dark stand of Spruce and Pine trees. This portion of the forest doesn’t actually constitute the natural forest structure of area. In fact, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) planted this specific conifer stand back in the 1930’s in an effort to reforest agricultural lands. Today, local efforts to regenerate the natural forest structure have involved thinning these stands to allow light to reach the forest floor and give broad leaf trees a chance to regenerate. This portion of the forest, however, has remained untouched by these forestry management strategies These tall skinny conifer trees comb the winds that blow from Lake Erie rolling across the hills of western New York State. You can physically locate the breeze as it slowly moves through the forest, and you can hear the surrounding landscape react to the change in atmosphere. This lack a variety in tree species restricts the diversity of wildlife in this area, but the dense tree structure provides a tight, yet lush acoustic character that I find rather ominous.

Brokenstraw State Forest – Panama, NY: In late April, a family of beavers are busy at work chewing on sticks, swimming, and slapping their tails. Spring Peeper choruses fill the space with sound as their songs reflect off a line of conifer trees on the opposite side of the pond, creating a pleasing reverberation.

The winds of an oncoming storm begin to blow through a stand of tall lodgepole pine, creating swells of tension. As the storm approaches, a performance unfolds in which the winds control the dynamics and the trees and birds play the melody. Recorded in May 2016 – Cascade Lake Trail, Yellowstone National Park Wyoming.