Ep. 244 : The Call of the Northern Green Frog

For the past few years I have been going out at night in May to record the calls of American Toads and Northern Leopard Frogs by the Eramosa River. I used to live much closer to the river and I could hear the songs from my window at night. When I heard those songs, I knew it was time to go record, and that the radio show that week was going to be the calls of the Anurans.
The problem was that lately, it has been pretty quiet on the home front. Maybe it was a bit too chilly for the Anurans to sing, or the rain has prevented me from bringing my recorders out, lest they get destroyed. But there have also been some really good nights, quite suitable for toad and frog song, but still it was quiet but for the Canada Geese. What was going on?

Ep. 215 : Of Soras…

I was out with a couple of friends the evening before. We’d been thoroughly engaged listening to the painfully loud calls of the Spring Peepers when I pointed out an Eastern Meadowlark call to one of my pals. He pulled out his phone and got on the Merlin App to try and id the call a little better. Lo and behold, on the list of birds included in his immediate recorded was a Sora! Now, Soras aren’t too rare, or too interesting to many, but they are a bird I have never seen, never heard, and barely heard of. When we were discussing who a Sora is, all I know was that they were a waterbird that didn’t look like a duck. I imagined something more akin to an American Bittern, but I was way off.
Soras are still mysterious to me, but it was fun to go back to the pond, listen to the birds again the following morning, and bring out some books to learn more and reflect on listening. I hope y’all enjoy it as well.