As I noted in my previous post, we are just beginning to realize that natural soundscapes matter to ecosystem health, and that we have filled them with mechanical noise as if they don’t.
A new article on soundscape ecology was published yesterday in the New York Times, with some lovely audio recordings from Denali National Park embedded.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/magazine/is-silence-going-extinct.html
There is a very engaging lecture on this subject by soundscape recordist and ecologist Bernie Krause:
http://fora.tv/2009/09/22/Dr_Bernie_Krause_The_Great_Animal_Orchestra
We are looking forward to Krause’s new book The Great Animal Orchestra, which treats the subject of soundscape ecology in detail. It is due out next week.
My own recordings this week have focused on the red winged blackbird. Harbingers of spring, they are arriving about two weeks early this year and so may also be harbingers of a changing climate.