Hi David--
Thanks for sharing the beautiful recording and
heartfelt account. I'm in the process of a
location change in response to similar
impressions.
Your recording makes me curious about the mics
and the array or rig you used in relation to the
stereo field and a unique quality in this
recording. At 29 seconds, a bull frog starts
calling in the middle-ground. Do you know where
this frog was located,.. possibly behind the mics
at "6 o'clock?" At 14 seconds, is that bull frog
located at about "4 o'clock"--or hard right? If
you don't mind sharing the info, what type of
mics & array did you use? Thanks, Rob D.
At 8:54 PM -0400 6/13/07, David Michael wrote:
>Hello
>
>I was in Clanton Alabama this past weekend visiting a friend's farm.=A0
>A mile or so down the ridge from her house, there were some swampy=A0
>ponds that provided habitat for beaver and half a dozen or so species=A0
>of frogs. We hiked down there at sunset hoping to hear something (she=A0
>had never been down there after dark).
>
>When we got down there, it seemed like every frog species in the area=A0
>had congregated in these pools. As some of you on the list well know,=A0
>Alabama (and Georgia) has been extraordinarily dry this season. Many=A0
>of the springs and ponds in the area were completely dry. It seems=A0
>that the only places in this area that were retaining water were the=A0
>valleys like this one.
>
>We got to the site a little late, after the choruses started. A=A0
>generator or something had started somewhere in the distance that was=A0
>not running when we scouted the location earlier in the day. It also=A0
>seems that the county roads were closer than we had assumed.=A0
>Furthermore, I have to honestly say that I was not prepared for how=A0
>drastically the forest changes at night, and we left the site to=A0
>return to the house while the treeline was still visible. So all in=A0
>all, we were on site for about 30 minutes, which was not enough time=A0
>to wait for the sounds of man to quiet down.
>
>In this recording, there are bird-voiced treefrogs, green treefrogs,=A0
>distant bullfrogs and green frogs, cricket frogs (I think), and=A0
>others that I cannot identify. If someone on the list would like to=A0
>take a crack at species identification, that would be great. I had=A0
>never heard a bird-voiced treefrog before, and I am now completely=A0
>obsessed with them. You will also hear the sound of a generator=A0
>coming from somewhere miles away and a passing car. The car seems to=A0
>stimulate the green treefrogs to call.
>
>The whole episode has had me a little sleepless. All the things I=A0
>have read about the structure of choruses do not really match the=A0
>experience of listening to the bouts of one species sweeping over an=A0
>area and stimulating other species to sound in turn. Hearing this=A0
>multi-species chorus has got me wanting to move out of New York=A0
>*immediately* to find a nice little plot of land. Perhaps this can=A0
>happen by next spring.
>
>I also cant stop thinking about how close man is to everything. Even=A0
>in a ridge valley full of coyotes, deer, beaver, and myriad frogs, we=A0
>are not far away and in many cases getting closer. With us come our=A0
>flatline sound generators. I suppose it just strikes me that its all=A0
>at this interesting balance, but one that we could tip voluntarily at=A0
>any time. It would not take but a single business deal to bring=A0
>bulldozers to those ponds in Clanton.
>
>http://unnature.org/assets/2007/6/14/Clanton_AL.mp3
>(4.2Mb 3mins)
>
>Best
>David
>
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