New Zealand 2009. Recorded on the South Island around the beaches of the Otago Peninsula. Rain was falling around 11:00 pm as these wonderful little creatures came home to feed their chicks. The smallest penguin, the little blue penguin is sometimes called the Fairy Penguin. If you wear headphones with this recording you can hear them walking along the trails to their dens. Recorded with: Sound Devices 722 MKH 40/30 microphones Tripod mounted with Rycote windjammer. Original recording done at 44.1k 24 bit Weather overcast Temp 54f Humidity 81% Recordist Martyn Stewart

The cayman islands are the "British" West Indies. This podcast is without narration this time. Taken from Little Cayman, this soundscape was in the middle of a tropical thunderstorm. The microphones were left on a coral beach. The waves crash onto the beach and thunder crashes in the background. You may hear West Indian Whistling ducks fly past the microphones towards the end. Little Cayman is a recordists dream, very few people inhabit the island. Recorded with Sound Devices 788t and 2 sets of MKH 40/30 microphones recorded in an MS pattern. Recordist Martyn Stewart

Today we are taking you to Queensland, Australia to a rainforest. we are at the chambers wildlife area at Lake Echam in the Atherton Tablelands. I'm going to introduce you to a pademelon, NO it's not an irish fruit but a small forest kangaroo. Pademelens browse on the grass in rainforest clearings usually in groups. Pademelons are mainly nocturnal so it's a delight to be able to witness these amazing animals in an open area close to one of the main lodges that John Chambers provides. Why are animals nocturnal? Well why not! We as mammals mainly function by day because as top predators, we have very little to hide from but most Australian mammals are potential meals for something else so it is to their advantage that mammals like Pademelons function under the cover of darkness when many predator birds and reptiles are asleep. Many thanks to Roo Stewart for the questions. To go to John chambers site visit http://rainforest-australia.com/

Why Do We Fear Bears? Attacks are rare and excessive warnings about them create unnecessary fear. Balanced and factual information about bears is hard to find.

All gods creatures have a place in the choir, including the world WE live in.

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