&naturerecordi
Hi Everyone,
We're back from our excursion in extreme nature recording and I'm here to s=
hare an
account of our adventures with you all.
Scott and I headed down south from Salt Lake City, Utah last Wednesday nigh=
t (actually the
wee hours of Thursday), the 20th. Our drive down was accompanied by a very=
large moon
in a sky that alternated between clouds and brilliant stars. We reached ou=
r first
destination, the Temple of Sekhmet in Nevada, on Thursday around 11:00 A.M.=
The
temple is located on an interesting oasis bordering the Nevada Nuclear Tes=
t Site, the
Indian Springs Air Force base (who was conducting war games during our visi=
t) and the
prison. For more information check out: http://www.sekhmettemple.com. We=
got some
very interesting recordings there using our new Rode NT4 mic into the Moran=
tz PMD660.
Our next destination was Kanab. We headed there Thursday to stay the night=
. We were
going to visit Best Friends' Animal Sanctuary on Friday morning before head=
ing to Zion's to
meet up with our friends, Dan Dugan and Sharon Perry. Best Friends' was tr=
uly awesome,
though we did not have time to record. It is the largest "no-kill" animal =
sanctuary in the
USA and is located in the breathtaking Angel's Canyon. Feel free to learn =
more by visiting:=20
http://www.bestfriends.org.
We met Dan and Sharon at the visitor's center in Zions before heading over =
to meet with
the biologist. Part of the reason for our trip was to do some sound monito=
ring/recording
for the Park Service to document intrusive man-made sounds in the park and =
to further
refine the logging and recording process. St. George is looking to build =
a great big new
airport and the noise generated spell trouble for the endangered natural so=
undscapes of
Zion, Grand Canyon and Bryce National parks.
Nature Sounds Society, which we are all members, has been working with the =
park service
to get a base-line for helping to protect the national treasures of natural=
soundscapes in
our parks. The most endangered are the parks in Hawaii, Zions, Grand Canyo=
n, Bryce,
Yellowstone and others. Helicoptor and plane tours, as well, as air traffi=
c fly overs,
generate much intrusive noise. Yellowstone is endangered from snow-mobiles=
. Sharon
was representing NSS and building valuable relationships with the biologist=
s that we met
to work with in the Parks.
Sharon put the trip together and also a packet of materials about NSS and n=
atural quiet to
give to the biologist/rangers meeting up with us in Zions and Bryce. Dan ma=
de our lodging
and dining arrangements. We were also being joined by Dick Hingson, champi=
on for
natural quiet in the parks and fellow NSS member, to do our baseline record=
ing.
The biologist gave us a permit to bring our vehicles into the park for rese=
arch. Zions is
now serviced by a shuttle bus and vehicle access is limited. The biologist=
took us out to a
place that we would later record in the evening. We were hoping for spotte=
d owls and
frogs in this local (more on this later). Next we went to the place where =
we were to do our
sound monitoring/logging/recording. Dan brought extra gear so that our bio=
logists could
have an opportunity to try out recording.
The spot was beautiful and quiet. We could hear the stream, filled with sn=
ow melt, below
in the canyon. We also documented air traffic fly bys. On our hike out we=
stopped to
record some birds, don't know what kind (sorry Martyn and Doug).
During our hike out we had a serendipitous run in. Scott and I were laggin=
g behind with
our gear and ran into some guys asking us if the particular trail we were o=
n went to some
destination. We didn't know. We told them about our research project in t=
he park. They
made some comment on our Rode mic and in parting said that they were also i=
n "the biz".=20
We asked if they were up from the big NAB conference in Vegas. They affirm=
ed and
assumed that we also were visiting the park post NAB. We explained that w=
e had actually
driven down from Salt Lake to meet our friends. When they heard "Dan Dugan=
and Sharon
Perry" they were incredulous. "Uh, uh! You're not friends with the famous=
Dan Dugan of
the Dan Dugan algorithm and Sharon!" they said. We offered to allow them t=
o hike back to
the car with us and meet Dan and Sharon in person, but they were too shy. =
Oh well!=20=20
What are the odds of meeting up with these guys in the back trails of Zions=
? Dan and
Sharon got a kick out of it.
That night we ate dinner at the lodge before going out for our evening reco=
rding session.=20
Scott and Dick connected. Scott worked for 7 years at the North Rim of the=
Grand Canyon.=20
He and Dick knew many folks in common. Working summers at Grand Canyon, Zi=
on's and
Bryce is a family tradition for the teenagers in Scott's family. His mom a=
nd her siblings,
his siblings and cousins have all worked summers in the parks. Scott has b=
ecome very
interested in helping Dick and NSS with preserving our natural soundscapes =
in the parks.
We drove, then hiked out, to our chosen night site. The moon was gorgeous =
and Dan took
some incredible pictures that make it look like it was daytime with stars o=
ut. We could
hear some frogs so went close to set up. For the next little while we hear=
d one jet after
another, sometimes 2 and 3 at a time, more than we documented for our dayti=
me logging
session. It was coooooldd! No spotted owls and not very good frog recordi=
ngs. Great jet
recordings. Scott had some trouble with the new Marantz recorder (not sure=
if it was
operator error in the dark). We finally decided that we were cold and it w=
as time to go.
On our way out I stepped aside to get closer to a frog singing his little h=
eart out. I decided
to unpack my gear and attempt to record him. Fumbling around in the dark, =
I finally set
up. I knew that I had about 9 minutes left on my disc. The frog was singi=
ng away with
great detail. The second I hit record the frog stopped singing. I sat the=
re freezing for
exactly 8 minutes and 9 seconds. No frog singing, nothing. I finally gave=
up. As soon as I
was done packing my gear, guess what? Of course, Mr. Frog starts singing h=
is heart out
once again. I named him "the taunting frog".
The next day we went to the end of the trail on the shuttle and took pictur=
es. I got in
trouble when I discovered some kids beating a caterpillar with a stick. I =
took the stick
away from the kids and told them not to bother the wildlife or they could g=
et a ticket. The
parent became very angry that I dared to do this. After our walk to the en=
d of the trail at
the Virgin River Narrows, we bid farewell to Dick and headed over to Bryce.
Bryce welcomed us with stormy weather. We checked in and met up with the b=
iologist to
find out where we were to record. We arranged to meet up with her early in=
the A.M. then
went out to record, ourselves, the first monitoring/logging session. We ha=
d what we
christened "an extreme nature recording" session. As we began recording/lo=
gging a great
big thunder/rain/snow storm blew in. Dan faced it head on in his shoulder =
mounted rig.=20
He did not move for 20 minutes despite rain, snow and wind in his face. It=
was cold! We
all endured. I'm sure that Scott and my recordings clipped from the wind. =
Man it was
blowing! We then went out exploring. Dan gleefully ran around taking pict=
ures and trying
to record thunder, even when the rest of us sat in the car shivering. A re=
al trooper!
The next morning we went out early. It had been snowing. Intermittent sno=
w/rain met us,
but kindly stopped to allow us our 20 minutes. We heard one lesser flatula=
ting ground
squirrel (get it?) during our session, along with quiet and a few human noi=
ses. Dan gave
the biologist a recording rig. She became excited to have one for herself =
to help in her
work.
Our next adventure was the horse/mule ride down to the bottom of the canyon=
. We
thought they would cancel due to the extreme weather but, guess what? We g=
ot the
adventure of the extreme trail ride. It was fun and spectacular, if a bit =
wet and cold. After
our canyon capers we headed north to our Salt Lake homestead and some extre=
me
recording in the North of Utah.
Monday found us heading out to Antelope Island to meet up with Jeff Rice, w=
ho is working
on a nature sounds library for the University of Utah and a bat recording p=
roject. We went
out to the Island where Dan set up an array a la Rich Peet and where we wer=
e promptly
devoured by no-see-ums (Scott is covered with swollen bites and has been ta=
king
Benedryl the last couple of days). We discovered that during future excurs=
ions we needed
to be at least 100 yards apart. This is due to the sound of frantic scratc=
hing and some
swearing.=20
We took our leave (thankfully) of the Island, said "goodbye" to Jeff, and h=
eaded out to the
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge for more extreme weather. We did find som=
e nice places
to do some recording, though I had another run in with a "taunting frog". =
Got some nice
yellow headed marsh birds (black birds) and their lovely strangling call. =
This is a place
that I will happily explore further.=20
Tuesday we bid farewell to Dan and Sharon when they headed to Reno and then=
back to
the Bay area. We had a great time and learned a lot. I think that we did =
decide on some
future refinements for the logging/recording and for getting base-line info=
rmation. I also
decided that I want a shoulder rig because it is very quick to set up. Muc=
h faster than
digging out my gear.
We'll let you all know more about the Marantz recorder once we can download=
and listen.=20
I hope that you have enjoyed reading my account and I hope that Dan, Sharon=
and Scott
will add to my commentary on our adventures.
Warm regards from rainy Salt Lake (missed out on recording today's spectacu=
lar
thunderstorm because I'm at work, dag!),
Raven Simons
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