Ear to the Wild

Ear to the Wild: A Black Phoebe on Laguna de Santa Rosa

Black Phoebes are small black birds, with white bellies. They’re flycatchers and generally stay close to water. Hear one calling while hunting on the Laguna de Santa Rosa

Ear to the Wild: The Sound of the Surf at Drakes Beach

With the busy-ness of one’s day to day life it’s easy to forget how the rhythms of nature can sooth us. It’s good to take a minute to tune into this place, and to all the

Ear to the Wild: The Belted Kingfisher - Gustav’s “Mechanical Bird"

In memory of Gustav Hobel. My friend Gustav and I used to live next door to one another on Sonoma Creek. The Belted Kingfishers would fly by, calling, with that ratc

Ear to the Wild: A Northern Mockingbird Singing His Heart Out

The Northern Mockingbird is an impressive singer! This species gets its name from how they mimic the songs of other birds. The more sounds the male is able to include in

Ear to the Wild: Western Bluebirds at a Backyard Nestbox

Western Bluebirds are a small thrush that can sometimes be found in backyard nest boxes. Sometimes, if you sit quietly and listen, you can observe a lot in your own backy

Ear to the Wild: Adult Female Elephant Seal Sounds

Adult female elephant seals make a number of different sounds. Marine Ecologist Sarah Codde says, “So, you can hear that softer sound she makes is to her pup… And then yo

Ear to the Wild: Musical Geophony at Sugarloaf

In soundscape ecology we think of three different categories of sound. One of those, and really the first, is geophony. It can be quite musical, and here’s a good example

Ear to the Wild: Elephant Seal Pups at Drakes Beach

In winter Elephant seals gather on Drake’s Beach, at Point Reyes National Seashore. Females give birth to pups and nurse them during this time. Elephant seal monitoring a

Ear to the Wild: The Pacific Slope Flycatcher

One bird you’ll hear around parts of Sonoma County in the summer is the Pacific-slope Flycatcher. Once you learn their song it’s easy to recognize. So, next time you’re r

Ear to the Wild:  Winter Solstice at London Lake

I’m up here at Jack London’s old property, at the London Lake. I thought we’d lend an ear to the Winter soundscape here. The lake is nice and full. We’ve been getting a l

Ear to the Wild: The Rushing Waters of Calabazas Creek

The Calabazas sub-watershed is one of the largest in the greater Sonoma Creek watershed. During major storms it collects an impressive amount of water. Listen to the rush

Ear to the Wild: Mute Swans Taking Flight

Mute Swans are the ones you see in so many fairy tales. People started bringing them to North America from Europe around the late 1800s. They can severely impact native e

Ear to the Wild: Using the Cricket as a Thermometer

In 1897 a physicist named Amos Dolbear published a paper called “The Cricket as a Thermometer.” He’d discovered a formula for estimating the air temperature by counting t

Ear to the Wild: A Juvenile Great-horned Owl

Juvenile Great-horned Owls beg for food from adults by making raspy sounding screeches. In the Fall they’re learning to hunt, but they still beg for food from the adults.

Ear to the Wild: Gray Foxes on a Moonlit Night

As the moon rises a Gray Fox barks. Her voice reverberates across a small field of Coyote Brush and grass. Another Gray Fox responds in the distance. Their voices carry o

Ear to the Wild: An Orchestra of Crickets

The sound of crickets all singing together is sometimes referred to as an orchestra. Late summer and fall is the time when the cricket Orchestras here in Sonoma County st

Ear to the Wild: An American Bittern in the Mix

If you listen closely to this soundscape you’ll hear a low sound that sounds a little like “ker-plunk, ker-plunk...” That’s a species of bird called the American Bittern.

Ear to the Wild: Ash-throated Flycatcher

Every spring and summer the Ash-throated Flycatcher’s distinctive voice contributes to soundscapes across the West, from Texas to California. But by the end of August the

Ear to the Wild: The Underwater World of the Harbor Seal

Harbor seals spend up to 70% of their life underwater. Their aquatic home can sound strange and even abstract to our ears. In this recording from Jenner we can hear harbo

Ear to the Wild: Marsh Wrens at Kennedy Park in Napa

Marsh Wrens are about the size of a sparrow. They’re a rusty-brown color, with black and white markings that resemble eyebrows. These were recorded at Kennedy Park, in Na