Nature Sounds
Spring soundscapes featuring a song thrush
Spring at Spivaki Records
By Serg Childed
Of all the songbirds in the northern hemisphere, the nightingale clearly stands out for its deep vocal overtones and incredible musicality that famously prompted composers of different eras to imitate its song in their orchestral works. At the same time, the nightingale song always develops within the same pattern, meaning that the bird can only vary a limited set of standard phrases.
Another bird with an outstanding voice is the song thrush. Although its voice is more modest compared to the nightingale, it nevertheless succeeds in producing a much more varied set of sounds.
To draw a popular music analogy, the nightingale song follows a fixed musical form while the song thrush widely varies its repertoire, weaving songs and calls of different birds and animals into it. In other words, the song thrush is a true cross-genre virtuoso that enriches its song throughout the season by imitating the organic sounds of nature as well as various mechanical sounds present in its habitat.
The soundscape below was recorded in mid-May at the peak of the nesting season which prompts every active songbird to put on the best possible performance. The 20-minute recording captures bird activity during sunset, including the vocal battle between the thrush and the nightingale who are clearly in competition with each other.
Listen to Song thrush, nightingale, and other spring birds recorded at sunset in the woods:
The following recording was captured on an early spring morning and features a wider selection of woodland inhabitants including the incredibly fast-paced dialogue of a pair of swallows that appeared around 6:00. The song thrush, nightingale, cuckoo, and crickets also appear here.
Listen to Swallows, song thrush, nightingale, and crickets recorded in the woods on a spring morning:
We also offer our extensive collection of nature sounds with chirping crickets and grasshoppers, buzzing bees, blowing wind, raging spring and summer thunderstorms, singing nightingales, blackbirds, golden orioles, and many other songbirds.
You can use these soundscapes for sleep, relaxation, meditation, yoga, or while you work. We strongly recommend downloading our HQ nature recordings before listening to avoid YouTube compression known for critically reducing the depth, perception, and transparency of soundscapes.
