Sound Escapes

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Gordon Hempton, an acoustic ecologist known as the Sound Tracker, has mastered the art of truly listening. In this podcast, he shares soundscapes that will immerse you in incredible places and help you become a better listener.

  1. 17/11/2021

    Our Solar-Powered Jukebox

    In the season finale of Sound Escapes, acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton takes us on a whirlwind tour of nearly every habitat on the planet. From tropical forests to deserts to wetlands, you'll hear what the Earth truly is: music spinning in an otherwise silent space.  Thank you for joining us on this sonic journey. We hope each episode brought you a sense of peace during these troubled times, and that you have tapped into your natural ability to listen deeply. And now, let’s listen to the music of the Earth.   Connect with BirdNote on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Sign up to receive BirdNote's weekly newsletter BirdNote is an independent nonprofit media production company. Your dollars make it possible to create sound-rich shows that connect you to the joys of birds and nature. Support BirdNote’s conservation mission, and get more of the content you love, by subscribing to BirdNote+ at https://birdnote.supercast.tech or make a one-time gift at BirdNote.org. Thanks! Support for Sound Escapes comes from Jim and Birte Falconer of Seattle. BirdNote Presents: Sound Escapes is produced by Mark Bramhill and John Kessler. Ashley Ahearn is our editor. Music is by Blue Dot Sessions. Sound Escapes illustration by Jia-yi Liu

    1h 3m

  2. 17/11/2021

    Mark Twain's Limpid Brook

    “By modern standards, Mark Twain was really a switched-on listener,” says our Sound Escapes host, Gordon Hempton. “He brilliantly used sound in the crafting of his novels. Birds would sing at the right time of day and in the right situations. He would use thunderstorms to mark the locations of Jim and Huck's journey down the Mississippi.” In this episode of Sound Escapes, we’ll explore what made Mark Twain such an astute listener.  Gordon was particularly inspired by a passage in Twain’s autobiography, in which he describes "a limpid brook" on his Uncle Quarles’ farm near the town of Florida, Missouri. Gordon recreated the sounds of that clear, melodious brook using stones gathered from the original site, which is now a dry creek bed. "Sonically, we have the interplay between the brook itself and the bird song," Gordon explains. "And it's really an uplifting experience."   ID the birds in this episode: Mark Twain's Limpid Brook Bird List   Connect with BirdNote on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Sign up to receive BirdNote's weekly newsletter BirdNote is an independent nonprofit media production company. Your dollars make it possible to create sound-rich shows that connect you to the joys of birds and nature. Support BirdNote’s conservation mission, and get more of the content you love, by subscribing to BirdNote+ at https://birdnote.supercast.tech or make a one-time gift at BirdNote.org. Thanks! Support for Sound Escapes comes from Jim and Birte Falconer of Seattle. BirdNote Presents: Sound Escapes is produced by Mark Bramhill and John Kessler. Ashley Ahearn is our editor. Music is by Blue Dot Sessions. Sound Escapes illustration by Jia-yi Liu

    26 min

  3. 17/11/2021

    Song of the Paddle

    After a long winter in northern Minnesota, everything seems to awaken at once. From the songs of migratory birds to the croaks of frogs and toads, we can witness a wonderful rejuvenation. In this episode of Sound Escapes, paddle a canoe through Voyageurs National Park alongside Gordon Hempton, the Sound Tracker. We'll hear the hauntingly beautiful duet of a pair of Common Loons — and learn why Gordon refers to cold water lakes as “magic amphitheaters.”    ID the birds in this episode: Song of the Paddle Bird List   Connect with BirdNote on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Sign up to receive BirdNote's weekly newsletter BirdNote is an independent nonprofit media production company. Your dollars make it possible to create sound-rich shows that connect you to the joys of birds and nature. Support BirdNote’s conservation mission, and get more of the content you love, by subscribing to BirdNote+ at https://birdnote.supercast.tech or make a one-time gift at BirdNote.org. Thanks! Support for Sound Escapes comes from Jim and Birte Falconer of Seattle. BirdNote Presents: Sound Escapes is produced by Mark Bramhill and John Kessler. Ashley Ahearn is our editor. Music is by Blue Dot Sessions. Sound Escapes illustration by Jia-yi Liu

    28 min

  4. 17/11/2021

    The Poetics of Space

    This week’s episode of Sound Escapes takes us to Pipestone Canyon in Eastern Washington, where you can hear a ridgetop wind come from a mile away. Here, you can not only listen to coyotes in the distance, but also how the coyote waves as it passes through the canyon: a form of dimensional information that Gordon Hempton calls, “The poetics of space.”    ID the birds in this episode: The Poetics of Space Bird List   Connect with BirdNote on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Sign up to receive BirdNote's weekly newsletter BirdNote is an independent nonprofit media production company. Your dollars make it possible to create sound-rich shows that connect you to the joys of birds and nature. Support BirdNote’s conservation mission, and get more of the content you love, by subscribing to BirdNote+ at https://birdnote.supercast.tech or make a one-time gift at BirdNote.org. Thanks! Support for Sound Escapes comes from Jim and Birte Falconer of Seattle. BirdNote Presents: Sound Escapes is produced by Mark Bramhill and John Kessler. Ashley Ahearn is our editor. Music is by Blue Dot Sessions. Sound Escapes illustration by Jia-yi Liu

    29 min

  5. 17/11/2021

    Kalahari Sunrise

    In this week’s episode of Sound Escapes, experience dawn in the Kalahari Desert as the sun rises over the sandy savannah of southern Africa. It’s nearly level at this part of the Kalahari Desert. The trees are widely spaced. There’s almost no available water. You cannot see very far — the heat itself ripples the horizon. "It's a place that's hard for me to imagine any animal being at home," says Gordon Hempton. "But of course they certainly sound like they are."   ID the birds in this episode: Kalahari Sunrise Bird List   Connect with BirdNote on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Sign up to receive BirdNote's weekly newsletter BirdNote is an independent nonprofit media production company. Your dollars make it possible to create sound-rich shows that connect you to the joys of birds and nature. Support BirdNote’s conservation mission, and get more of the content you love, by subscribing to BirdNote+ at https://birdnote.supercast.tech or make a one-time gift at BirdNote.org. Thanks! Support for Sound Escapes comes from Jim and Birte Falconer of Seattle. BirdNote Presents: Sound Escapes is produced by Mark Bramhill and John Kessler. Ashley Ahearn is our editor. Music is by Blue Dot Sessions. Sound Escapes illustration by Jia-yi Liu

    25 min

  6. 17/11/2021

    John Muir's Yosemite

    “Water makes every sound imaginable and occupies every frequency audible to the human ear and certainly spans the dynamic range from the faintest sound to near distortion,” says Gordon Hempton, the Sound Tracker. The writings of John Muir can guide our ears, as we listen to the water music: “The deep bass tones of the fall, the clashing ringing spray an infinite variety of small, low tones of the current gliding past the side of the Boulder Island and glinting against a thousand smaller stones down the Ferny channel.” In this episode of Sound Escapes, walk in Muir’s footsteps as you follow the sounds of the Merced River in Yosemite National Park.   ID the birds in this episode: John Muir's Yosemite Bird List   Connect with BirdNote on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Sign up to receive BirdNote's weekly newsletter BirdNote is an independent nonprofit media production company. Your dollars make it possible to create sound-rich shows that connect you to the joys of birds and nature. Support BirdNote’s conservation mission, and get more of the content you love, by subscribing to BirdNote+ at https://birdnote.supercast.tech or make a one-time gift at BirdNote.org. Thanks! Support for Sound Escapes comes from Jim and Birte Falconer of Seattle. BirdNote Presents: Sound Escapes is produced by Mark Bramhill and John Kessler. Ashley Ahearn is our editor. Music is by Blue Dot Sessions. Sound Escapes illustration by Jia-yi Liu

    29 min

  7. 17/11/2021

    Amazon Awakenings

    The world's first wilderness quiet park was certified at Ecuador's Zabalo River in 2019. In this episode of Sound Escapes, you'll hear sounds recorded by Gordon Hempton, the Sound Tracker, at Zabalo River Wilderness Quiet Park — deep inside the Amazon. Gordon calls this place a living Eden. "And when we listen there, we listen for miles. Not city blocks. We listen for miles."   ID the birds in this episode: Amazon Awakenings Bird List   Connect with BirdNote on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Sign up to receive BirdNote's weekly newsletter BirdNote is an independent nonprofit media production company. Your dollars make it possible to create sound-rich shows that connect you to the joys of birds and nature. Support BirdNote’s conservation mission, and get more of the content you love, by subscribing to BirdNote+ at https://birdnote.supercast.tech or make a one-time gift at BirdNote.org. Thanks! Support for Sound Escapes comes from Jim and Birte Falconer of Seattle. BirdNote Presents: Sound Escapes is produced by Mark Bramhill and John Kessler. Ashley Ahearn is our editor. Music is by Blue Dot Sessions. Sound Escapes illustration by Jia-yi Liu

    30 min

  8. 17/11/2021

    Songs of Spring

    "Olympic National Park has taught me that it's possible to not only love a place, but love a place deeply at first listen," says Gordon Hempton. "And spring is when Olympic is at its most musical." Delight in the sounds of Pacific Chorus Frogs, the Varied Thrush, grouse, and many more.   ID the birds in this episode: Songs of Spring Bird List   Connect with BirdNote on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Sign up to receive BirdNote's weekly newsletter BirdNote is an independent nonprofit media production company. Your dollars make it possible to create sound-rich shows that connect you to the joys of birds and nature. Support BirdNote’s conservation mission, and get more of the content you love, by subscribing to BirdNote+ at https://birdnote.supercast.tech or make a one-time gift at BirdNote.org. Thanks! Support for Sound Escapes comes from Jim and Birte Falconer of Seattle. BirdNote Presents: Sound Escapes is produced by Mark Bramhill and John Kessler. Ashley Ahearn is our editor. Music is by Blue Dot Sessions. Sound Escapes illustration by Jia-yi Liu

    32 min
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Gordon Hempton, an acoustic ecologist known as the Sound Tracker, has mastered the art of truly listening. In this podcast, he shares soundscapes that will immerse you in incredible places and help you become a better listener.

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