gregweddig.net

This last weekend I finally made it out for an overnight trip to a local private ranch I have had my eye on.  After obtaining permission from the owners I spent a beautiful night in California’s Coastal Range foothills.  As you can see from the photos everything is still green from the spring rain, in a few weeks it will start to turn a shimmering gold.  The oak trees show in these pictures The weather was partly cloudy and I was hoping to catch some frogs at the man made watering hole for the cattle that call this land home.  In the evening recording you will hear some Pacific Chorus Frogs over a bed of Spring Field Crickets.  This is an ORTF recording using Schoeps MK21 capsules.

I used the Gregga Array to support two stereo pair of mics the left side is a rear facing Jecklin disc and the right is a pair of MK21 Sub-cardioid micsin an ORTF configuration in a  windscreen.  Note how the wide stance of the tripod allows a very stable platform for the two arrays, no worries about cows tipping them over.  In the background you can see my yellow GPS and weather station.

These Flournoy recrodings and photos by GT Weddig is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Rain at Gray Lodge Wildlife Area by GT Weddig is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

This is a night recording I did a few weeks ago , but am only getting to post until now.  There is a close squirrel (Eastern Gray?) and some other favorite friends, I picked up a touch of poison ivy fumbling around in the declining light, it has now pretty much healed but still, use caution recording at night.

Danny was also recording this night, we did hear some relatively close gunshots, but they didn’t continue long.

This weeks recording:

This night recording was done with the Maryland Nature Recordists in May 2008.  I was at the Tubman Road Trail near marker #3.  There were open water sloughs on both sides of me.   The primary caller seems to be the Northern Cricket Frog, with Cope’s Gray Treefrog, Bald Eagle, Northern Bobwhite, Chuck Will’s widow,  possibly the Snowy Tree Cricket, and the occasional Wood Frog filling out the soundscape.
ORTF, Sennheiser 8040, SD 744t

Foggy, rainy morning caused a rain out, I recorded about 20 minutes or so before the rain started growing more heavy.  The undergrowth is filling out, as is the canopy.  Again the whip-poor-will was calling when I arrived, in fact two or three of them were calling near the road before my hike in.  I must try a night recording here soon.  This recording was so nice I did cut out a short mid-section that I check how wet the mics were, enjoy.
ORTF, Schoeps MK21, 744t

The sun was just rising as I once again got out of the car at the trailhead to the sound of deuling whip-poor-wills. One night I will record them. This soundscape has a featured knocker, the piliated woodpecker was a prominent caller this morning towards the end of the recording, in addition to other birds that I haven’t yet ID’d.

While the air traffic was limited today, I did notice some sort of farm machinery in the distance, the recording location is less than a mile away from some agricultural fields and a pastoral farm. Usually they are quiet save for the occasional cock-a-doodle-do..

This weeks recording:

On the way out I noticed what appeared to be an albino plant, is this possible? See the photo below, does anyone know what this is?

I am trying to get up earlier to capture first light every week, but due to a number of factors I can only get so close.

This week we have a technical comparison between two sets of microphones. The first set is my standard Schoeps ORTF configuration, a set of MK21 capsules directly into the Sound Devices 744t mic preamplifier. The second set, a demo set of the Sennheiser MKH 8040 configured in ORTF. Keep in mind that the pattern of the two sets is slightly different: the Schoeps is a wide cardioid, the Sennheiser is a classic cardioid. I have done my best to match levels on these two samples.

The same part of the sound file was used for each sample. in about the middle of the recording you will hear me swatting a spider, I was recovering from a few spider bites from the previous week at the time.

ORTF, Schoeps MK21, 744t

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ORTF, Sennheiser MKH 8040, Grace V3, 744t

This seems to be the quietest recording (in terms of wildlife) I’ve done here yet. The forecast was calling for a morning thunderstorms but it didn’t start to rain until we were leaving. The wind however was pretty constant. The trees haven’t started to fill in yet, they are only now starting to bud.

Jecklin, DPA 4006, 744t

A foggy, warm morning, after a thunderstorm, the first I’ve seen this spring, temp was about 60 degrees farenheit. It was dark when I arrived, but the Northern Cardinal just started to call. I was hoping to get there early enough to catch the owls, but all I got was a few eastern grey squrrels waking up (at about 15:50). I left most of the slate on this track. The transient pops you hear is water rolling off the trees close to the microphones. USE CAUTION, SOME OF THESE POPS MAY BE LOUD!

The smaller version is actually a continuation of the large recording, note there is a loud jet about halfway through the compressed version (at about 13:30).

Or a more compressed version for those with slower connections:

Jecklin, DPA 4006, 744t

As this recording begins you will hear my wife and I heading out for a hike, it was about 34 degrees Fahrenheit so we wanted to keep moving. We returned about 45 minutes later as the morning chorus was drawing to an end. During the slate, which I chose not to include on the recording a great horned owl called once to another in the distance. You’ll hear the usual calls that I have outlined before.

ORTF, Schoeps MK21, 744t

Northern Cardinal, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied woodpecker, American Crow

ORTF, Schoeps MK21, 744t

This was done as part of a Maryland Nature Recordists outing, Danny Meltzer attended. Northern Cardinal, Sapsuckers, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, American Crow.

Jecklin, DPA 4006, 744t

In 2008 I created a recording series called the Prettyboy Project.  Over a series of several months I recorded near the Prettyboy Reservoir in Baltimore County, US.  I posted recordings “as is”, with little or no editing to explore the progress of  the spring soundscape in one location.  Planes, cars, and other “noise” will all be in there along with the seasonally evolving natural soundscape of the location.  The Prettyboy Project has been completed as I no longer live near the recording site but please visit and enjoy the progression of the spring.

February 2008,  late morning at the end of the wildlife drive I found a small field of mostly snow geese and a few Canada geese.  I pulled to the side of the road and setup the mics using a car door as a wind break, it was very windy.   Several high altitude jets and the usual traffic din can be heard throughout, but it’s not bad for a side of the road recording.
ORTF MK21, SD 744t

This is a combination of two recordings a night and day (some may consider it a nature recording sin).  What I believe are deer snorts ring through the young deciduous forest.  The  Oblong-winged katydid sounds like a  ratcheting mechanic with periodic common true katydids (chee, chee, chee).  Recorded with the  Maryland Nature Recordists on a  fine weekend in September 2007.
Jecklin, DPA 4006, SD 744t

This recording was made in September of 2007 with Danny Meltzer.  It is a mixed soundscape, combining the early morning chirps of Gordon Pond with two perspectives of the Atlantic ocean recorded in sync, one close and one far. 
Jecklin, DPA 4006, MKH30/40, SD 744t

~SURROUND~

Two canoes on the beach near our campsite.

We have just returned from a portaging trip with some friends of ours, we spend about 6 days paddling in Canada’s serene Algonquin Provincial Park.  While it rained a little bit every day, overall the weather was excellent for lugging seemingly heavy canoes and backpacks (loaded with gourmet food).  Our expedition took us to remote parts of the park where we were we saw  common loons, moose, giant snapping turtles and several kinds of frogs.  It was a good way to celebrate Nicole’s graduation from nursing school and put some distance between the busy school schedule and the beginning of her new career.

These are evidently wood boring beetles of some type recorded 12:30 am at Misty Lake.  Faint Bullfrogs can hear in the distance, there were active mice or shews in the immediate area as well.

Jecklin, DPA 4006,SD 744t

Neil and Pattie fishing on Misty Lake in the early evening.  A group of boisterous campers can be heard across the lake on the left side.  Our camp is behind the mics.  No fish were harmed or even caught.

Jecklin, DPA 4006, SD 744t

This call was heard prominently throughout our journey.  On our journey the bird was dubbed “poor Ethel” due to it’s melancholy call.  It is, from what I’m told, a very common call in Canada, and that is my experience on this trip.  Swainson’s Thrush and other birds I don’t know are also prominent in the background.

Jecklin, DPA 4006,SD 744t