I think I have annual recordings from the same place in the nature reserve in Flói in southwest Iceland almost since 2009. The reason is simple. It’s always interesting to follow the local acoustics from year to year. So I don’t have to spend a lot of time finding a location for the microphone. They stand in the same place unless something else disturbs it, e.g. high ground water level or something else that hasn’t yet happened to me. I go to the place hoping that there is no one in „my place“ in the parking lot where I can pull out my 75 meter 4ch long cable to the place where I have always recorded. I find a good ground for the microphones, get in the car, start recording and go to sleep.
I usually wake up when someone comes driving into the parking lot about 4-6 hours later.
I usually never listen to what I recorded, except when I need to look for something interesting to post on this audio blog like now.
It is well worth having a recording from Flói this month when 15 years have passed since this audio blog went online. Flói has followed this blog ever since I got my first HD recorder. It was then that the batteries suddenly lasted longer than 30 minutes, but it opened up a whole new world for me to record in nature.
Here is an audio recording from June 13, 2023. The area was extremely wet after heavy rains. I positioned the microphones to be in close proximity to the Read necked phalarope. But maybe there wasn’t as much activity as I wanted. But instead you can hear various sounds that I am not quite sure where they are coming from. There are weak „clicks“ that can be heard e.g. for 1:30 min in this recording as well during the 30 minutes that the recording lasts.
As usual, there are many species of birds in Flói. Red-throated Loon. Red-necked Phalarope, Common Snipe, Golden Plover, Whimbrel, Common Eider and certainly other duck species as well. Common Redshank, White Wagtail, Winter Wren, Northern Wheatear, Common Redpoll, Snow Bunting, Swan and maybe other bird species that I cannot name.
Background noise is some traffic and surf from the south coast and air traffic.
You can hear it occasionally in the wind because I covered the wind shield with buff but not fur. Instead, you can hear much better in subtlety details.
This is an extremely low-key recording, except where you hear the Red-throated Loon. The recording was recorded with 50db gain (40Hz HPF), then the gain was further increased by +10dB in post-processing.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid volume.
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(mp3 256kbps / 64Mb)
Recorder: Sound devices MixPre6
Mics: Lewitt LCT540s (IRT cross 90°/30cm)
Pix: Canon EosR
Location: 63.900935, -21.191930
Weather: Cloudy, calm, about 5°C
HLJÓÐMYND - SOUNDIMAGE 