I've just returned from the Nature Sounds Society's annual Field
Recording Workshop at Yuba Pass.
We were in smoke most of the time; it cleared up on Sunday. Saturday
morning walking from my tent to the dining hall at 3:45 AM the
crescent moon was orange.
Sierra Valley was mysterious, sometimes the mountains to the north
weren't visible. It seemed pretty dry; there was no water in the
ditches by Marble Hot Springs Road. I set up my 4-channel array facing
east, over the marshes, but nothing much was happening out there;
instead there was a constant swallow-like chatter from the sagebrush
on the west side of the road. Don't know what species that was.
There were snipe, bitterns, sandhill cranes and blackbirds as usual,
but the density seemed lighter.
At the bridge there was plenty of water in the main channel, and the
swallows were busy as usual.
I was very pleased to find that Lundy Ditch has been repaired and was
running normally, and Madora Lake is filling up again. The bullfrogs
were back.
There was a nice dawn chorus at Yuba Pass. Martyn went to Lincoln
Meadow to do a protocol for Bernie.
On the NSS/Sierra Club backpack to Jamison Lake, we saw a beautiful
big brown bear posing in full view. Of course it split by the time my
camera was ready.
Aircraft about an hour apart there in the day. Good recording location
with long noise-free intervals.
I recorded the ambient hum of mosquitoes at dusk--they were swarming
thick. Late at night there was no biophony--no insects, no frogs.
There was a very nice dawn chorus, including a couple of fish splashes
from the lake.
-Dan Dugan
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