http://www.naturesound.org/Sound%20Files/Greater%20Roadrunner.mp3
Just for you Syd but sorry no beep beep!!
It is like the sound of a moaning dog to me, I only caught these sounds from
the roadrunner but I do believe there is a much more snappy noise too.
Great story told as usual Syd, you have the knack of painting a picture, the
park is a wonderful place and maybe not much different to when you were
there. I would have stuffed the radio where the sun doesn't shine though!!
Martyn
Martyn Stewart
Bird and Animal Sounds Digitally Recorded at:
http://www.naturesound.org
N47.65543 W121.98428
Redmond. Washington. USA
Make every Garden a wildlife Habitat!
425-898-0462
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Syd Curtis
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 11:13 PM
To:
Subject: [Nature Recordists] Big Bend N. P.
Greetings Naturerecordists,
(Nothing on sound recording in this posting, in case you wish to delete now;
one small item re sound, at the end.)
Congratulations Martyn, on your Colima Warbler success.
And thanks for reviving some happy memories for me - not of the Warbler
alas, but of that magnificent National Park.
In 1972 I was working in national park administration in Queensland,
Australia, and after attending the Second World Conference on National Parks
at Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, I visited some selected parks with
relevance to our situation here in Australia to learn of their management.
It was an official trip and nature sound recording was not be included.
However, there were four species of American birds in particular that I
hoped I might at least see. I arrived at Big Bend H/Q early in the morning
and was just comfortably seated in the Superintendents office, when I saw
one of my desired birds right outside his office window: a Road-runner! It
seems that it did a circuit of the buildings every morning to check for
insects that had been attracted to the lights during the night.
Question for Naturerecordists: Does a Roadrunner have a voice? Has it been
recorded?
I was greatly impressed by both the Park and the management of it. Just a
few points:
Road design: Big Bend is (or was in '72) primarily a wilderness park. It
is very large, requiring an extensive road system. But it was so superbly
designed that as you drive along, nowhere do you see any road beyond the
next curve. Nowhere, as you look across the expanse of low desert
shrubbery, is there any sign of human activity, to disturb the sense of
wilderness, of undisturbed nature.
Climb above the cliffs behind the H/Q for a view from above over the Park
and the extent of the road system is apparent.
And I wonder if one special management activity, which must have been
expensive, is still able to be afforded. Sealing the roads to solve a dust
problem as traffic increased, brought another problem. Run-off from the
sealed surface, effectively increased soil moisture immediately beside road.
Shrubs that had been naturally below eye-level of a passenger car, then grew
taller - sufficient to block the view. In '72, the Park Service was
hand-pruning and distributing the prunings out of sight to maintain the
natural vista.
An amazing sight (at least for this Australian) was to see huge spiders
(Martyn's tarantulas, I guess) wandering nonchalantly across the bitumen in
broad daylight. Goodness knows how hot that sealed surface must have been!
The item re sound. As I recall, the Park Service buildings, tourist
facilities and the like were in a village at the foot of some towering
cliffs (of the Chisos Mtns?). But one can skirt around to the right and
climb up to come out on top of the cliff, and look down on the village far
below. Which I did ... to be greeted by a blast of pop music from a
juke-box, funnelled up to me by some freak acoustics of the local
topography.
Rather spoilt the peace and quiet to which Martyn refers, and the sense of
wilderness. But also served to remind me how superbly well the Park was
managed in general.
Thanks Martyn.
Syd
> From: "Martyn Stewart" <>
> Reply-To:
> Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 23:27:54 -0700
> To: "'Naturerecordists'" <>,
"'Naturesound'"
>
> What an incredible place Big Bend is, I saw and recorded some 78 species
and
> the peace and quiet was something I only remember as a kid....
>
"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
Yahoo! Groups Links
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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