Podcast

The headwaters of Sonoma Creek, in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, is a place of many moods. In the Spring it’s alive with the sound of birds and insects. But now, in the winter, it's hushed, and subdued.

Many species of bird seem to be making good use of the restored riparian habitat along the Petaluma River, in the Denman Reach open space area. 

The real power of quietude is that it can speak so deeply to our hearts. Like in this moment on the Russian River, on a rainy winter’s day.

Red-winged Blackbirds have a strong and clear voice. Their songs and calls easily carry over water and across fields. The classic Red-winged Blackbird song sounds like they're singing "conk-la-ree, conk-la-ree." 

The Northern Mockingbird is an impressive singer! This species gets its name from how they mimic the songs of other birds. The more sounds the male is able to include in his song, the more likely he is to attract a female.

I’m up here at Jack London’s old property, at the London Lake. I thought we’d lend an ear to the Winter soundscape here. The lake is nice and full. We’ve been getting a lot of rain, and it’s overcast.

And it’s got that nice magical, misty quality. So, let’s give a listen to this solstice soundscape.

By the end of his second month the male Bewick's Wren has found his own unique Voice. This will be the song he sings for his entire life!

Juvenile Great-horned Owls beg for food from adults by making raspy sounding screeches. In the Fall they’re learning to hunt, but they still beg for food from the adults. In this recording their dialog ends with what sounds like the juvenile Great-horned Owl landing in a grassy field and catching something!

Mourning Doves get their name from the sound they make. People sometimes describe it as being sad, or mournful, so that's why naturalists have named them the Mourning Dove. Their gentle cooing always seems to add something special to the soundscape!

The sound of crickets all singing together is sometimes referred to as an orchestra. Late summer and fall is the time when the cricket Orchestras here in Sonoma County start to tune up and fill the night with their music!

We’re back at the headwaters of Sonoma Creek, in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park listening to Downy Woodpecker chicks. We were last here in winter, and now it’s spring. 

In winter Elephant seals gather on Drake’s Beach, at Point Reyes National Seashore. Females give birth to pups and nurse them during this time. Elephant seal monitoring activities at Point Reyes National Seashore are authorized under National Marine Fisheries Service Permit Number 27424.

As the moon rises a Gray Fox barks. Her voice reverberates across a small field of Coyote Brush and grass. Another Gray Fox responds in the distance. Their voices carry over the chorus of crickets. Owls sing as the night settles in. The two Gray Foxes call to one another from the shadows, and listen…

Marsh Wrens are about the size of a sparrow. They’re a rusty-brown color, with black and white markings that resemble eyebrows. These were recorded at Kennedy Park, in Napa. Listen carefully and you’ll hear a quick couple of “chuck” sounds, followed by the Marsh Wren’s “rapid fire” song.

In soundscape ecology we think of three different categories of sound. One of those, and really the first, is geophony. It can be quite musical, and here’s a good example of it. The creek’s flowing quite well, and there’s this great low frequency plunging sound of the water. So, let’s just give a listen to the musicality of this geophony!

Mute Swans are the ones you see in so many fairy tales. People started bringing them to North America from Europe around the late 1800s. They can severely impact native ecosystems, eating up to 8 pounds of underwater plants a day! This leaves less for native waterfowl. Mute Swans flap their wings and run across the water as they take flight. 

Springtime at London Lake, in Jack London State Historic Park, is alive with the sound of many species of birds and insects.

The Swainson’s Thrush is one of those birds that you’re more likely to hear than see. If you paddle along the south bank of the Russian River Estuary, near Jenner… you might just hear the beautiful music of our russet-backed Swainson’s Thrush!

In memory of Gustav Hobel.

My friend Gustav and I used to live next door to one another on Sonoma Creek. The Belted Kingfishers would fly by, calling, with that ratchety kind of sound that they have in their voice. That’s why he’d call them the “mechanical bird.”

The Varied Thrush's song has been described as haunting, ethereal, and mysterious. Listen, and you might just hear the spirit of the old growth forests they call home, reverberating in the song of the Varied Thrush!

Red-breasted Nuthatches can be found in parts of Sonoma County. You can sometimes hear them in Annadel State Park. The next time you visit your favorite stand of conifer trees, keep an ear out for the Red-breasted Nuthatch!

The Calabazas sub-watershed is one of the largest in the greater Sonoma Creek watershed. During major storms it collects an impressive amount of water. Listen to the rushing waters of Calabazas Creek just before it reaches the mainstem of Sonoma Creek.

Harbor seals spend up to 70% of their life underwater. Their aquatic home can sound strange and even abstract to our ears. In this recording from Jenner we can hear harbor seals making grunting sounds, and blowing bubbles.

They're small, and hard to see at night. But when you hear that bouncing ball rhythm coming from the forest, you'll know it's a Western Screech-Owl!

(Photo: Randy R. Magnuson, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Western Bluebirds are a small thrush that can sometimes be found in backyard nest boxes. Sometimes, if you sit quietly and listen, you can observe a lot in your own backyard!

Suzanne Lang talks with Eiren Caffall, a writer who also has a hereditary illness. She writes of the environment’s wounds that affect the life and health of our planet and of our ocean’s through the lens of her own life, struggles, and ultimate optimism, in her book The Mourner’s Bestiary.

Amory Patrick Blaine joins Suzanne to talk about Book 1 of the trilogy American Renaissance, or  Inquiry Concerning Political Justice in the Arts & its Influence on Morals and Happiness, a playful and philosophically probing story of art, culture, terrorism, and political intrigue.

It’s A Novel Idea, first, third, and fifth Sundays at 10:00am PT. Streaming and podcasting at krcb.org.

Africa in the early 1960’s was a place of transitions, political and personal. Suzanne Lang talks with Elaine Neil Orr on her novel, Dancing Woman, set in Nigeria during a time of political unrest and explores the longing of an energetic and artistic wife of an agricultural aid worker.

Also featured is Suzanne’s conversation with Rosemary Manchester on her memoir of life in the Congo during the revolution from Belgian rule, Turn Left at the Big Anthill.

A Novel Idea, Sunday, February 2^nd at 10am PT. Streaming and podcasting at krcb.org. 

Eliot Pattison is the author of gritty mysteries set in the historic past and joins Suzanne Lang for an hour of conversation. His latest novel is Freedoms’s Ghost, a Mystery of the American Revolution, a recent installment into his Bone Rattler series, set in the pre-Revolutionary War Colonial America. Also featured is a 2019 segment with Eliot discussing the tenth and last installment of his “Inspector Shan” series set in Tibet, Bones of the Earth. 

Eliot Pattison and Suzanne Lang on A Novel Idea, Sunday, November 19^th at 10 am PT on KRCB, 104.9 FM in Sonoma County, streaming and podcasting to the world at krcb.org.