It is December and Today I'm taking you to the Skagit flats, about 60 miles north of Seattle in Washington state. The Skagit flats is one of Americas best winter birding destinations and one of the American birding associations “important birding areas.

Its time for another podcast from naturesound but this time we are switching species. Most of my recordings are of birds, mainly because they are the most visual and vocal but one particular species is usually found in most of my recordings, Insects.... Insects (Class Insecta) are a major group of arthropods and the most diverse group of animals on the Earth, with over a million described species more than double the number of all other living organisms combined. [1] Insects may be found in nearly all environments on the planet, although only a small number of species occur in the oceans where crustaceans tend to predominate instead. There are approximately 5,000 dragonfly species, 2,000 praying mantis, 20,000 grasshopper, 170,000 butterfly and moth, 120,000 fly, 82,000 true bug, 360,000 beetle, and 110,000 bee, wasp and ant species described to date. Estimates of the total number of current species, including those not yet known to science, range from two million to fifty million, with newer studies favouring a lower figure of about six to ten million. Insects usually get a raw deal from most people because, well, they are insects. In fact if you stand around your local “do it yourself store� you will find people buying all kinds of chemicals to eradicate them. But what would we do without them! I for one hate the feel of mosquitos biting the living daylights out of me and I suffer badly from the after effects but I would rather have them than not.

Let us take you to the Grand Island, Crane meadows to hear the spectacular Sandhill Cranes and then up north to the Calamus outfitter ranch to hear a "Bar room brawl" staring the Great-Prairie Chicken. more information at www.naturesound.org ENJOY

Here we have a trip around the world starting in the USA and ending up in Australia, no traveling involved by you so don't pack your suitcase just yet, enjoy the sounds of Mexico, South America, South Africa, the UK and Sri Lanka. Australia sets the scene for the finale.

Fantastic book from  mountaineers books, photos by Subhankar Banerjee and others. there is a 60 minute CD with my sounds recorded from the refuge included.

more info visit

http://www.mountaineersbooks.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=675  Or  http://www.naturesound.org

 

 

My friend the starling would like to say "be easy on me"

This is a short podcast defending this magnificent bird from back home.

The Yucatan Peninsula and the affect hurricanes coupled with global warming have on migratory birds. Here is Antonio Cellis, a bunch of birds recorded in Redmond, WA, and a soundscape from the Yucatan.

Will the threat of drilling ever go away? Unless we make this place a "class 1" wilderness it won't. Should we stand up for what we believe or let big money oil companies dictate to us what we can and can't have?

Bird sounds from the refuge at Sunset Pass and Andy Keller join this podcast from the refuge. Listen to Jaegers and Longspurs with the odd Loon thrown in for good measure.....

 

Bluethroat

Luscinia svecica
AKA: Red-spotted bluethroat, White-spotted bluethroat,

A small robin-like bird, the male is unmistakable in spring with his bright blue throat, bordered below with bands of black, white and chestnut. Its central throat spot can be white or chestnut. They can be quite secretive, flicking into the cover of a bush with a flash of their chestnut tail patches.