Waking from the tent, the bushes heavy with pollen that lined the campsite were swarming with the buzz of honey bees.
The bees remained at work as the camp remained asleep. In an adjacent campsite, a male camper snored loudly and birds moved about the morning landscape. Cars began to be heard on the main road as people came in and left.
Joshua Tree Morning Bird
In a still sleeping camp, I heard the sound of a woodpecker. Walking in the direction of the sound and recording, I discovered a small bird pecking on a wooden and metallic sign post.
Walking sounds, the chirp of the bird, as well as the pecking. The metallic surface and the wooden surface make entirely different sounds when pecked. The sound of the Joshua Tree morning buzzed around.
July 2
July 3
July 4
Harrison Nir
Fourth of July Fireworks
Newport Beach, CA
The July 4th firework showcase on the Los Angeles beaches are a spectical of human making, both displaying creative achievement and an experience of excess. The fireworks, maybe thousands of which were set off this evening, are extremely harmful to the environment, both chemically and sonically, yet they are considered an essential ritual to American culture.
Fireworks could be heard up and down the LA coastline. From Laguna Beach to Santa Monica, the explosions and the various sounds of the human crowds echoed and are captured in this recording.
Youtube
African SafariCam
Kenya
Mpala Research Centre in central Kenya's Laikipia County
This live cam overlooks the main beach of the watering hole at Mpala Research Centre. In the afternoon hippos, giraffes, and elephants came to the water. Only hippos makes sounds during this time. Very peaceful and meditative soundscape.
July 5
Chris Hass
Brewer's sparrow
Santa Rosa Mountains, Nevada
traveling through Santa Rosa Mountains
The Brewer’s were singing, but only a few individuals, not a full chorus. a couple of birds, with a flicker and black-throated sparrow in the background
July 6
July 7
Wendy Marek
Campfire
Backyard, Seymour, CT
A campfire offers so much to the senses. It provides glowing warmth, crisp smells, and a bright, flickering display of colors. But it also sings a beautiful, crackling song which inspires my soul to just be present and still in humble acceptance of its multi-dimensional beauty.
During the recording, I could occasionally hear the background noise of traffic on a major roadway nearby. Aside from this, I feel like I was able to capture the sounds I had hoped to.
These bright yellow Indian bullfrogs are mating in a very shallow water off the street in the city. Their noticeable color and loud sounds can't be missed. The frogs are active in front of the audience (people). The recording is a mixture of frogs vocalization with the audience reaction (talking).
July 9
Youtube
Japan floods kill over 100
Southwest Japan
Never seen anything like this. Houses swept away in seconds by flashing flood. Sounds of frightening.
a nice break for listening to rain and thunder, I heard birds and cars passing as well
July 18
Harrison Nir
Ocean Canyon
Lands End, San Francisco, CA
The trails at Lands End Park, which sits at the upper north west corner of the city of San Francisco, have just been redone to accomodate for the new flow of tourism to the spot. My friend and guide spoke of a Yelp review that brought both money and human flow to the scenic area. Staring out towards the pacific from the canyon shelf, one can feel very separate from the metropolis that sprawls only a few hundred meters behind you.
Pelicans flew by silently, wind thrashes at the cliff, the ocean sends billows of sound up the cliffsides which amplify the wave sound beautifully.
Pacific Jetty
Much sealife lives on this urban coast. The large boulders just off the coast are mounted by mussells and barnicales, urchins and starfish. So close to San Francisco, it was amazing to see this much wildlife preserved. This area of the city, it seemed, was still for the non-human inhabitants that dwelled there.
A lone fisherman cast lines overhead, the swell and recession of the tide flooded between a canyon of boulders, in which I stood in the center. Starfish, crustaceans and shellfish dwelled in the saftey of the stone, sustained by the waterflow in and out.
Sea Cave
The tide was low during my visit to Lands End, allowing access into a sea cave where live barnicles and mussells lined the walls. The acoustic properties of this rarely accessible dwelling amplified the ocean sound in a way that allowed for a sonic view underwater, into a dwelling that was distinctly non-human and protected by the rising tide.
As the tide rose, certain harmonics naturally occuring in the cave became subtly audible. The cave revealed itself as an instrument. Water droplets from the stone above added a slow percussive element.
July 19
July 20
Harrison Nir
The Wave Organ
Exploratorium, San Francisco Bay, CA
Designed and constructed in 1986 by Peter Richards and George Gonazales, the submerged pipes of the wave organ interact with the bay to generate an organ like instrument that sounds at different pitches based on the pipe. The structure is built from stone taken from the demolishion of the Laurel Hill Cemetary. While recording this, I thought about how different the Bay must be from when this was installed and pondered the rising sea level and noise-pollution levels on the Bay and their affect on the instrument
This recording is of a single pipe of the Wave Organ. The recording was made around mid-day, when the Bay was a few hours ahead of high tide. A few pedestrians and visitors stood among the organ, playing with its structure and placing their ears up to the pipes. A collective of sailers on small ships moved around the bay, as well as a number of other ships. The Golden Gate Bridge traffic could be heard from the organ, as well as the traffic on the nearby shore.
July 21
July 22
Youtube
Storms Landslides heat in Asia
Asia
extreme weather
Daan Hendriks
Elephant Drama
Queen Elizabeth National Park, Mweya Peninsula, Uganda
These calls come from members of a large elephant herd, consisting of about 25 members, which I had spotted from my car earlier in the afternoon.
I had followed them a little bit for as far as I could and then hid my microphones in the bush facing the general direction of where they had moved, and left the recording run throughout the day and night. Something must have been stressing them out as they were very vocal - there were regular calls (screams, trumpets) interspersed with typical deep rumbling calls all afternoon and well into the evening and early morning hours. It all culminated in the snippet that I shared, which was the most intense period of vocalising and trumpeting at approximately 10pm. I don't know what upset them so much, but it's not common for elephants to be this vocal for such a prolonged period.
We can also occasionally hear a few hippos honking in the distance.
July 23
Harrison Nir
Big Sur River Gorge
Big Sur River Gorge, Julia Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, CA
The water level at the Big Sur River Gorge was exceptionally high, making for an intense flow. Fellow campers swam in the cool blue waters and rested on its shore banks.
This particular recordings captures a junction in the river where water is flowing, resting and falling all in the same location.
July 24
Harrison Nir
Big Sur Night Surf
Esalen Institue, Big Sur, CA
Off the Big Sur cliffs, the ocean resounds in marvelous ways. At night, changes in the tide can be observed as it changes with the moon's appearance and dissapearence behind the thick wall of clouds that forms above the Pacific.
The clouds covered the moon just as I began recording, calming the ocean's currents into a more sleepy rhythm. Certain changes can be observed as the moon's light became revealed and hidden again.
Big Sur Early AM Roadside
Highway 1, Big Sur, CA
Thousands of travelors and their cars pass through Highway 1 each day, making it quite a human dominated place, even with all the naturally preserved lands. At 3:30 am, the roads sink back into the wildness of the surrounding territory.
The ocean can be heard from the roadside, as well as the movement and calls of numerous insects. My car's engine tinks as it slowly shuts down from the long day of driving. There were things I felt, standing on that unlit roadside, that were not captured in the recording--a certain wild fear and mystery.
Pacific Valley River Bed
Pacific Valley, Big Sur, CA
This river mouth, where mountain river once flooded into the ocean, is now dry. In the water's place is a bed of wildflowers, a number of which have dried out. Birds and all types of shore dwelling animals inhabit this beautiful, temporary habitat.
Hummingbirds and other birds can be heard at play over the sound of the dried flowers rattling together in the breeze. The ocean's deep roar underlies it all.
San Simeon Elephant Seals
Highway 1, San Simeon, CA
Just to the side of Highway 1, hundreds of cars packed into a large parkinglot advertising elephant seal observation. The human commotion is overbearing, with multiple languages being spoken. Just off of the parking lot, a fence separates hundreds of tourists and travelors from a pack of elephant seals molting on the beach. The elephant seals are awe inspiring, both visually and sonically, but they are surrounded by humans and made into a zoo-like spectacle or attraction.
I tried to capture the dynamic between human observer and elephant seal natural inhabitant in this recording. The wind is high and loud, as well as the ocean sound. The human voices and conversation is oftentimes louder than the elephant seal's noise. Through the thickness of other sounds, alpha male seals make interesting growling calls after fighting and molting seals blow sand from their nostrils.
Lake Casitas Campfire
Lake Casitas Recreational Center, Ojai, CA
At the end of a long journey down the CA coast, I stopped at Lake Casitas to spend the night. The sound of the campsite, with my campfire as the central element, put into question what we come out into the natural world to do when we come camping.
In this recording, many camping dynamics can be heard: the family argueing in the neighboring campsite, the younger folk playing music and cheering loudly. Below it all, the evening insects and frogs sing and my campfire burns on.
Youtube
Thunderstorm_Istanbul
Istanbul, Turkey
very moody
Thunders hovered over the Muslim pray calls in the city.
Youtube
Laos HydroelectricDam Collapes
Laos
CNN reports hundreds of people are missing and thousands more have been displaced after a dam collapsed in southern Laos, causing flash flooding across six villages. Tthe Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam had collapsed on Monday, causing several deaths and leaving more than 6,000 people homeless. The disaster is so far known to have affected at least six villages in the Sanamxay district of Attapeu province. There is no information at present as to just how badly the dam has been damaged or when flooding is expected to recede.
July 25
Harrison Nir
Charmlee High Grasses
Charmlee State Park, Malibu, CA
Malibu exists on a thin line between human and non-human dominance. Charmlee State Park sits high in the mountains, where this line can be walked--sounds of the home construction below mix with the subtle calls of the grasshoppers and the wispy wind in the tall grass.
This recording captures a high eleveation, tall grass prarie habitat. Many insect and bird sounds can be heard dispersed throughout, but central to the recording is the sound of the wind moving the tall grasses and the sirens of a truck in the valley below as it works on a construction project and back ups.
July 26
July 27
CNN
California Wildefire
Redding, California
extreme draught and heat hit wildfires.
There are alarming signs that the planet may be in worse shape than ever before.
Catastrophic wildfires continue to ravage California, as one blaze nearly doubled in size over the last three days, making it the largest in the state's history.
The wildfire season starts earlier and lasts longer. Terrifying!
Deadly fires have scorched swaths of the Northern Hemisphere this summer, from California to Arctic Sweden and down to Greece on the sunny Mediterranean. Drought in Europe has turned verdant land barren, while people in Japan and Korea are dying from record-breaking heat.
Climate change is here and is affecting the entire globe -- not just the polar bears or tiny islands vulnerable to rising sea levels -- scientists say. It is on the doorsteps of everyday Americans, Europeans and Asians, and the best evidence shows it will get much worse.
This summer, 119 people in Japan died in a heat wave, while 29 were killed in South Korea, officials there say. Ninety-one people in Greece died in wildfires, and ongoing fires in California have taken at least eight lives. Spain and Portugal sweltered through an exceptionally hot weekend with a heat wave that has killed three people in Spain and pushed temperatures toward record levels.
Youtube
Greece Wildfires
Mati, Greece
global warming
Ferocious wild fire hits Mati-so hot to melt down the burned cars, around Athens, in Greece's worst fire crisis in more than a decade.
