Wildlife spectacles in May
What wild nature is doing in May along the East Atlantic Flyway, from Norway to Angola: 126 spectacles at their peak and 93 more still going on. Wild animals only: no zoos, no wildlife parks, no hunting. For exact listening times on a given day, open May in the interactive calendar.
At their peak in May: Europe
Great snipe lek at FokstumyraThe great snipe's extraordinary accelerating clicks, rattles and whistles from a group of males displaying on the bog, ruff males in silent lek nearby, whimbrel bubbling, bluethroat song, cranes bugling, snipe drumming everywhere, willow grouse cackling.
Hornøya and Gjesværstappan: Arctic seabird cliffsA guillemot wall at arm's length: massed growling and trumpeting, kittiwake screaming, puffin grunts, Brünnich's guillemots' lower calls; Arctic surf; at Gjesværstappan the gannet colony's grating and the constant wing-noise of puffins by the hundred thousand.
Tåkern: booming bitterns in Europe's biggest reedbedsThe deep, bottle-blown 'whump' of bitterns booming across the reeds, several males answering; reed, sedge and Savi's warblers, water rail squeals, cranes and geese; at Väversunda in late May the strange clicking display of great snipe towards nightfall.
Thrush nightingale nights in eastern DenmarkThe thrush nightingale's slower, more percussive song than its southern cousin — loud whistles, clacking and rattles — from damp scrub, often several males in earshot; marsh warblers mimicking, woodcock roding overhead, cuckoo, grasshopper warbler.
Vejlerne: bitterns, cranes and Northern Europe's largest reedbedsBittern booming from several directions at once, spotted crake whiplashes, water rail squeals, cranes trumpeting at dawn, bearded reedlings pinging, greylag families, black terns over the lagoons; wind in 8 km of reed.
Bitterns boomingThe deep boom (fundamental around 150 Hz, carrying over 3 km), plus water rail squeals, reed and sedge warblers, and marsh harriers.
Manx shearwaters returning at nightHundreds of thousands of birds crashing in, with cackling, choking, hoarse calls from the air and burrows all around you.
Natterjack toad chorusThe loudest amphibian in Britain — a rolling, ratcheting chorus audible up to 2 km away across dunes.
Nightingales singingFull nocturnal nightingale song, often with several males counter-singing; tawny owls and the first dawn birds behind.
Seabird citiesA wall of seabird calls: gannet grating, kittiwakes calling their name, guillemot growls, puffin burrow moans, sea and wind below.
Upland wader breeding songBubbling curlew song, snipe drumming (tail feathers), lapwing display flights, the mournful golden plover whistle, and greenshank 'tew-tew' over bog pools.
Woodland dawn chorus peakFull layered chorus: robin, blackbird and song thrush first, then wren, warblers, chaffinch; in western oakwoods add wood warbler trills, redstart and pied flycatcher.
Corncrakes calling on Tory, Inishbofin and the MulletThe rasping 'crex-crex' of corncrakes from iris beds and nettle patches, several males answering across the island, with snipe drumming, the Atlantic on the rocks and sheep — one of the last places in western Europe you can still hear a corncrake night.
Natterjack toad chorus on the Kerry dunesA loud, ratcheting 'rrrrRup, rrrrRup' chorus from dozens of males in shallow dune pools — the loudest amphibian in these islands — with the Atlantic surf behind the dunes and snipe overhead.
Meadow-bird chorus: godwits, redshanks and lapwings over the Frisian poldersThe 'grutto-grutto' yodel of godwits in tumbling display flight, redshanks' ringing calls, lapwings' wheezing aerobatics and wing-thrum, skylarks, snipe drumming and the bleating of hundreds of birds at once — the sound of the Dutch spring polder.
Tree frog choruses of Zeeuws-VlaanderenA rattling, surprisingly loud 'kè-kè-kè-kè' chorus from hundreds of tree frogs around the old fortress moats and pools — audible across the polder — with marsh frogs and nightingales behind; the ramparts of Retranchement alone hold a few hundred.
Berlin: the nightingale capitalDense nightingale song with several males counter-singing within 100 m, over a city bed — trains, sirens, the airport approach; in the Grunewald and on the Havel shores, a cleaner mix with tawny owl and reed warblers.
Fire-bellied toads, natterjacks and blue moor frogsFire-bellied toad's melancholy 'uh...uh' by the hundred over shallow pasture ponds, moor frog's bubbling 'waug-waug' underwater chorus, natterjack's ratcheting trill carrying 2 km across dune slacks, tree frogs at full volume, bittern and crane in the background.
Helgoland Lummenfelsen: guillemots, gannets and the 'Lummensprung'Germany's only seabird cliff: guillemot growls, kittiwake screaming, gannet colony grating, fulmar cackles; at the jump, chicks peeping and adults calling them down to the sea 40 m below.
Brenne, land of a thousand pondsWhiskered tern colonies chattering over the water-lily beds, purple herons, little bittern barks, black-necked grebe trills, and at night a tree frog chorus from every pond.
Marsh dawn chorus: Brière and DombesBittern booms across the reed, great reed warbler rasps, bluethroat song from the willows, heronries croaking, whiskered terns overhead, and a marsh frog chorus that runs all night.
Marsh frog & tree frog chorusesWall-to-wall marsh frog laughter from the Camargue ditches, ratcheting tree frogs from Brenne ponds, and natterjacks rolling across the Landes dune slacks.
Provençal nights: nightingale, scops owl & stone-curlewNightingales in every tamarisk, scops owls' 'tiu' on a 2–3 s metronome, stone-curlew wails from the Crau, nightjars churring on the garrigue, tree frogs from the marsh.
Sept-Îles: gannets on Rouzic, puffins and auksFrance's only gannet colony (about 14,000 pairs on Rouzic) as a wall of grating calls from the boat, puffins and kittiwakes on the sea, and the Atlantic swell against the granite.
Corncrakes and curlews of the Styrian EnnstalRasping corncrakes from the wet meadows, curlew bubbling and snipe drumming at dawn, quail, tree frogs from the raised bog, cowbells and the Enns.
Frog nights in the Danube floodplain forestTree frog volleys and fire-bellied toads' soft hooting from the oxbows (Altarme), marsh frog laughter, night herons croaking overhead, nightingale and beaver tail-slaps; Danube barges as a slow low bed.
Reedbed dawn on Europe's largest steppe lakeGreat reed warbler's grating song from every reed clump, Savi's reeling, moustached warbler, bittern booming, marsh frogs, spoonbill colony chatter, black-headed gull colonies, the reeds themselves in the morning breeze.
Amphibian chorus of the intermittent lakeWall-to-wall Pelophylax chorus with tree frog 'krak-krak' on top, toad trills, yellow-bellied toad's soft 'poop-poop' from karst puddles, Savi's warbler and bittern in the mix.
Corncrakes and wet-meadow night chorus, Ljubljana MarshCorncrake's rasping 'crex-crex' from several males at once, quail 'wet-my-lips', curlew bubbling at dawn, frog chorus from ditches, grasshopper warbler reeling; church bells and dogs from the villages.
Karst nights: scops owl, nightjar and cicadasScops owl's monotone 'tyuh' every 2–3 s from village edges, nightjar churring on the dry meadows, sub-Mediterranean bush-cricket wall of sound, cicadas at 90+ dB at midday in July, eagle owl from the Vipava cliffs in late winter.
Lake Cerknica reedbed chorus: bittern, crakes, great reed warblerBittern booming across open water, spotted crake's 'whit' whiplash all night, little crake, great reed and Savi's warblers, cuckoo, a huge pool/edible frog chorus underneath, corncrake from the wet meadows on the fringes.
Frog choruses of the Sava and Danube floodplainsFire-bellied toads' soft 'oop-oop' by the thousand across flooded pasture, tree frog volleys, marsh frog laughter, green toad trills, cuckoo and nightingale at the edges, storks clattering.
Scops owl nights on the Dalmatian islandsSeveral scops owls counter-singing across a village at different pitches, nightjar churring from the maquis, Cetti's warbler, cicada tail-off at dusk, cricket and bush-cricket floor, sea against the shore.
Shearwater colonies at night, Lastovo archipelagoScopoli's shearwaters wailing and cackling overhead and from burrows — the 'crying baby' chorus of Mediterranean islets; Yelkouan's higher nasal calls; waves on rock, cicadas fading at dusk.
Apennine beech-forest dawn chorusOld-growth beech forest chorus with woodpecker drumming, flycatcher songs, and resonant forest acoustics.
Mediterranean nights: nightingale & scops owlNightingales everywhere, the metronomic 'tiu' of scops owls (often several in duet), stone-curlew wails, tree frogs.
Reedbed dawn chorus: great reed warbler, bittern, purple heronGrating great reed warbler song from every reed stem, bittern booms, little bittern barks, whiskered terns overhead and marsh frogs beneath.
Scopoli's & Yelkouan shearwater coloniesScopoli's 'crying baby' wails from thousands of birds arriving over cliffs — one of the Mediterranean's strangest sounds.
Tree frog & water frog chorusDeafening tree frog 'kra-kra-kra' choruses, with the laughing croaks of water frogs from rice paddies and ditches.
Cory's shearwater colonies of the CanariesThe wailing, sobbing 'pardela' chorus from thousands of birds over sea cliffs — the sound behind the Canarian mermaid legends — with the Atlantic swell and Bulwer's petrels' soft barking.
Dawn chorus of the Mediterranean scrub and dehesaNightingales as the backbone, golden orioles fluting from the poplars, azure-winged magpie flocks rasping through the cork oaks, hoopoes, bee-eaters and cuckoos — the classic Iberian spring chorus.
Red-necked nightjar nightsThe Iberian nightjar's knocking 'kutuk-kutuk-kutuk' — slower and woodier than the European nightjar's churr — from dozens of birds in stone-pine and dehesa, with scops owls and stone-curlews, and the birds sitting on the warm tracks in the headlights.
Spring frog & toad choruses of the Andalusian marshesMassive Perez's frog choruses from the temporary lagoons, tree frog 'crra-crra' from the marsh edge, natterjack ratchets across the dune slacks, spadefoots' hen-like clucking from underwater, plus stone-curlews, red-necked nightjars and scops owls.
Steppe dawn: Dupont's lark and the Belchite larksDupont's lark's strange nasal, ventriloquial phrases from the dark steppe, then a wall of calandra lark song at sunrise, sandgrouse and stone-curlews — one of Europe's rarest dawn choruses.
Zino's petrel calling over Pico do Arieiro at nightOne of Europe's rarest sounds: the long, mournful, tawny-owl-like moan of Zino's petrels circling the summit ridge in the dark, answered from the nesting ledges, with the occasional whimper and the quieter cackle of Manx shearwaters lower down — above a sea of cloud, in total silence otherwise.
Capercaillie and black grouse leks in the eastern forestsCapercaillie's clicking, cork-pop and grinding song from pine bog edges, wing-beats of cocks flying in, black grouse bubbling on the open bogs; cranes, whooper swans and Tengmalm's owl in the same nights.
Runde bird cliffs: puffins at LundeuraKittiwake colonies screaming from the cliffs, puffin growls at the burrows, gannet colony grating from Rundebranden, eagles yelping, surf below; storm petrels purring from stone walls after midnight.
Stora Karlsö: Baltic auk cliffs and the guillemot jumpThe growling, gurgling roar of a packed guillemot colony on limestone ledges, razorbill rasps, kittiwake-free Baltic quiet behind it; in late June the thin whistles of chicks calling to parents as they leap into the sea.
Ertholmene: Denmark's only guillemot and razorbill colonyGuillemots' growling and razorbills' rattle from Græsholm's rocks 100 m across the sound, eider crooning, gull colonies, the Baltic; at night on Christiansø, migrants and the fortress silence.
Fire-bellied toads and green toads on the islandsFire-bellied toads' soft, bell-like 'oop... oop' in chorus from cattle ponds — from a distance like distant church bells; green toads' long trills; natterjacks ratcheting on the beach meadows; tree frog volleys on Lolland.
Corncrakes callingThe rasping 'crex-crex' from iris beds and meadows, with snipe, redshank and the sea behind.
Tyne kittiwakes — the urban colonyAbout 800 pairs of oceanic gulls calling 'kitti-wake' from the Tyne Bridge girders and the Baltic art gallery ledges, echoing between the bridges over the river and city traffic.
Irish seabird cities: Cliffs of Moher, Great Saltee and the SkelligsThe roar of 20,000 guillemots on the Moher ledges with kittiwakes screaming 'kitti-wake' and fulmars cackling; the Atlantic 200 m below; on Little Skellig the deafening, continuous growl of a gannet city heard over the engine; choughs' ringing calls on the cliff top.
Breskens: spring migration over the Westerschelde dikeA river of flight calls — meadow pipit, yellow wagtail, finches, linnets — low over your head, with the Westerschelde ships behind; screaming swift flocks on a May top day; harriers silent overhead; a crowd of counters calling out species.
Wadden Sea high-tide wader roosts: Westhoek and the Frisian coastThe rising murmur of tens of thousands of dunlin and curlew sandpipers packed on the roost, then the rush of wings as the flock lifts and turns; curlew and grey plover calls; brent geese in autumn; wind over the flats.
Müritz: cranes, ospreys and sea eagles in summerCrane pairs duetting at dawn from the bogs, bittern booming, osprey whistles over the lakes, eagle calls, woodlark and nightjar on the sandy heaths at dusk, marsh frogs; in autumn thousands of cranes flying into Rederangsee.
Banc d'Arguin terns & Arcachon brent geeseA grating Sandwich tern colony of thousands of pairs on a sandbank in the Atlantic swell; in winter, the rolling 'rronk' of brent flocks on the eelgrass beds.
Black grouse leks in the AlpsBubbling 'rookooing' and hissing from males on snow patches at the treeline, ring ouzels, water pipits, and meltwater.
Flamingo colonies of the CamargueGoose-like honking from thousands of birds, the massed 'marching' displays, and flights of hundreds passing low over the étangs at dusk.
Garrigue dawn chorusA Mediterranean chorus quite different from the north: rattling Sardinian warblers, woodlark descending phrases, hoopoes, nightingales in every gully, bee-eaters overhead and cicada-free silence between.
La Crau steppe: little bustard, sandgrouse & stone-curlewLittle bustards' dry 'prrrt' with a foot-stamp and wing-whirr jump, sandgrouse 'catar-catar' flights to drinking pools, calandra larks in continuous song-flight, stone-curlews at dusk.
Midwife toad piping in the villagesPure, bell-like single notes at about 1.2 kHz from dozens of males in dry-stone walls and rubble, like an out-of-tune carillon across a whole valley.
Shearwater colonies: Îles d'Hyères and LavezziWailing and cackling shearwaters arriving over the cliffs at night to their burrows — Port-Cros holds about 90% of France's Yelkouan population — with the Mediterranean swell below.
Spring migration counts: Col de l'Escrinet, Pointe de Grave and Le HucelA river of chaffinch flight calls over the col at dawn, meadow pipits, serins and linnets in the flocks, woodpigeon wing-clatter, cranes bugling northwards in March, and at Pointe de Grave the May sound of swifts screaming low over the dunes and bee-eaters calling in off the Gironde — one of the few places in France where spring migration is a sound you can stand under.
Black grouse leks in the Alps and JuraBubbling 'rookooing' rolling across a snow-patched alpine meadow from several cocks, sneezing 'tchu-shwee' hisses, wing-flutter jumps; ring ouzel and water pipit around them; cowbells not yet arrived.
Bolle di Magadino: spring fall-outs and nightingalesNightingale night chorus in the riverside scrub, Cetti's explosions, reed and great reed warblers, cuckoo, penduline tit; tree frogs; waders on the delta mud; Lake Maggiore lapping.
Frog and toad choruses of the Mittelland marshesTree frog 'krak-krak-krak' volleys carrying a kilometre, water frog chorus, midwife toad's single flute notes from stone walls, natterjack ratchet in gravel pits, bittern and cuckoo behind.
Gull, tern and heron colonies of the Grande CariçaieA wall of black-headed gull screaming from the artificial islands, terns overhead, cormorant grunts, reed warbler and Savi's warbler from the largest reed-belt in Switzerland, bittern booming at dusk, tree frogs, beaver tail-slaps.
Black grouse leks above the treelineBubbling 'rookooing' and explosive hisses from several cocks on a snow-patched clearing, wing-flutter jumps, ring ouzel and ptarmigan croaks; cowbells arrive later in the season.
Thayatal: river gorge dawn, eagle owl and wildcat countryOak-hornbeam dawn chorus with collared flycatcher, wood warbler, both nightingale species meeting (thrush nightingale reaches here), golden oriole, kingfisher along the meandering Thaya, eagle owl from the gorge cliffs in late winter.
Tree-nesting white stork colony, March floodplainBill-clattering across a colony of 40–50 nests in the oak canopy, chick hissing, black-headed gulls from the oxbows, oriole, nightingale, tree frogs and fire-bellied toads in the flooded meadows, Konik horses.
Black grouse leks above the treelineBubbling 'rookooing' and explosive hissing from several cocks at once on a snow-patched clearing, ring ouzel and water pipit around them; capercaillie 'cork-pop' song from the forest edge in the same weeks.
Mura floodplain dawn: orioles, bee-eaters, heronriesOriole fluting, cuckoo, nightingale, bee-eater 'prrup' flocks over the river, night heron croaks at dusk, stork bill-clattering from village nests, tree frogs from the oxbows.
Heronries, cormorant colonies and spring flood chorus, Kopački ritCroaking, bill-snapping heronries in flooded willows, cormorant grunts, spoonbill chick begging, eagle yelps, fire-bellied toad and marsh frog choruses under everything, cuckoo, golden oriole.
Neretva delta: the Adriatic flyway stopoverBittern booming from the reeds, whiskered and black terns over the lagoons, marsh frogs, great reed warblers, glossy ibis and egret flights at dusk, Cetti's warbler explosions; frog and cicada layers by June.
Plitvice and Lika beech-fir forests: owls, woodpeckers, dawn chorusMountain beech-fir chorus with collared flycatcher and wood warbler, three-toed and white-backed woodpecker drumming, pygmy owl whistles at dusk, Ural owl barking in March, the constant waterfall bed on the lakes themselves.
White stork village and floodplain summer, Lonjsko poljeBill-clattering duets from every rooftop, chick hissing and begging, spoonbill and heron colonies, marsh and pool frogs from the oxbows, corncrake and quail in the meadows at night, cattle bells and village life.
Alpine black grouse leksBubbling leks on snowy slopes at the treeline, with ring ouzels, alpine accentors, and snowmelt streams.
Heron colonies ('garzaie')Croaking, gargling colony noise, night heron 'quok' calls at dusk, begging chicks.
Lesser kestrel colonies in the Sassi of MateraHundreds of chattering 'che-che-che' kestrels wheeling over the roofs of a UNESCO old town at dusk, with swifts, jackdaws and church bells.
Spring passage on small islandsIsland scrub full of freshly arrived, singing migrants after 'falls', with night flight calls overhead.
Balearic shearwater & storm petrel islandsHoarse, cackling Balearic shearwaters arriving to cliff burrows after dark, storm petrels purring in cave crevices, Audouin's gull colonies and Eleonora's falcons screaming over the sea in late summer.
Ebro Delta: Audouin's gulls, terns and flamingosAudouin's gull colony (historically over half the world population at Punta de la Banya) as a nasal, laughing wall of sound, tern colonies screaming over the salt pans, flamingos honking across the lagoons, and frogs in the rice fields at night.
Fuente de Piedra: the great flamingo colonyTwenty thousand flamingos honking, growling and gabbling across a flat salt lagoon — the colony is a continuous roar from kilometres away on a still morning — with the goose-like flight calls of flocks commuting to feed, gull-billed terns and stilts yelping over the shallows.
Islas Cíes & Ons seabird coloniesOne of the world's largest yellow-legged gull colonies in full cry on the cliff tops, shags grunting on the ledges, and at night the recently established Cory's shearwaters and storm petrels over the Atlantic side.
Lesser kestrel colonies of TrujilloA colony of small falcons chattering — the 'chay-chay-chay' and trilling of dozens of lesser kestrels over the bullring roof, swifts screaming through the Plaza Mayor, storks clattering on the church towers and the market noise of an Extremaduran town beneath it.
White-tailed eagles: Smøla, Lofoten and the TrollfjordThe eagle's yelping 'klee-klee-klee' duet from a nest crag, wing-rush of a 2.4 m bird taking a fish 10 m from the boat, gull and tern colonies, otters whistling in the skerries.
Ottenby: autumn at the southern tip of ÖlandOn fall mornings the Lund rustles with hundreds of goldcrests and robins ticking; eider and long-tailed duck flocks calling as they round the point; wind and surf; eagles' yelps over the meadows in October.
Skagen: Europe's biggest spring raptor passageRaptors are quiet: the recording is the Grenen dawn — the two seas meeting, diver and scoter flocks calling offshore, tree pipits and yellow wagtails overhead by the thousand, nightjar and cuckoo in the plantations; kites mewing over Flagbakken.
Tipperne: wader passage on Ringkøbing FjordWader flocks calling over the wet meadows, godwit and lapwing display in spring, avocets, geese lifting in autumn, the fjord's chop on the western dyke; almost no traffic.
Woodcock rodingCroaking 'grunt-grunt-tswick' of males flying circuits over the canopy, often with nightjar or tawny owl later.
Biesbosch beavers at duskA beaver's tail slap, gnawing on willow, the push of its wake in a still creek; reed warblers and cuckoos at dusk in May; the murmur of thousands of geese and ducks settling on the open water at night; ospreys calling in spring.
The Zwin: wader passage, ringing season and the stork colonyBill-clattering of storks greeting at the nest; dunlin and redshank flocks over the salt marsh at the top of the tide; curlews; the sea behind the dunes; in autumn a steady trickle of migrating pipits and finches over the dike.
Elbe beavers at dusk, MittelelbeTail-slaps, gnawing on willow at water level, kits whining inside the lodge, splashy feeding; with a hydrophone the gnawing and the underwater entries are excellent; oriole, nightingale and marsh frogs at the same hour.
Stork villages: Rühstädt and BergenhusenBill-clattering duets from nests on every roof, hissing chicks begging in June, the whoosh of adults landing; swallows, village sparrows and church bells; cranes and geese on the Elbe floodplain behind.
Lac de Grand-Lieu: the great heronry and the spoonbill colonyHeron and egret traffic croaking and barking overhead at dawn and dusk, black terns and whiskered terns squabbling over the water lilies, Savi's warbler reeling and a booming bittern from the reedbeds at Pierre-Aiguë, cuckoos and water rails — the colony itself is heard only as a distant, constant squabble across the water.
Vulture cliffs of the Jonte, Verdon and OssauWing-rush of griffons passing a few metres over the rim, hissing and grunting from the colony ledges, chough flocks and the river below; more a sight than a sound.
Alpine ibex, chamois and marmotsIbex horn-clashes in the December rut, hoof-clatter on rock, chamois alarm hisses, marmot whistles echoing, chough flocks, water pipit; the wind.
Beavers by boat at dusk, Donau-AuenTail-slaps, gnawing on willow, kits whining in the lodge, surface swims and dives; frogs and night herons; the Danube.
Rhine delta on Lake Constance: migration and winter raftsDiving-duck rafts and wing-whistle, coot, whooper swans, gull roosts, curlew and godwit on the shallows in autumn; reed warblers and bittern in spring; the lake's fetch.
Brown bears from forest hides, KočevskoBears are mostly quiet: heavy footfalls in beech litter, sniffing, huffing and jaw-popping when nervous, cubs squalling, mating-season moans; the surrounding evening chorus (wood warbler, Ural owl at dusk, red deer) is the real soundscape.
Waders and terns on the Sečovlje salt pansLittle tern colonies screaming over the pans, stilts and avocets yelping, redshank and Kentish plover, reed warblers in the Dragonja channel; salt-worker rakes and the sea beyond the dyke.
Brown bears and wolves, Gorski kotar and VelebitBear footfalls, huffs and jaw-popping close to a hide; wolf packs howling across karst dolines in late summer; dormice and Ural owls at night; the Lika plateau is one of the quietest places in southern Europe.
Vrana Lake: wintering ducks and the reedbed springMassed coot and duck rafts, wigeon whistling, marsh harrier; in spring purple heron croaks, pygmy cormorant colony chatter, great reed warbler, tree frogs and marsh frogs, scops owl from the olive groves at night.
Griffon cliffs: Hoces del Duratón, Hoces del Riaza and MonfragüeA griffon colony settling at dusk is a surprisingly loud thing: hisses, grunts and cackles from hundreds of birds squabbling over ledges, the rush of wings passing at head height, choughs and alpine swifts along the wall and, after dark in winter, eagle owls hooting across the gorge.
Pilot whales of Teno–Rasca, TenerifeWith a hydrophone: pilot whale whistles and clicks from a resident population of about 500 animals in deep water only 2–3 km offshore; above water, resting groups blowing quietly between boats.
Griffon vultures on the sea cliffs of CresHissing and grunting at the ledges, the wind-rip of 2.7 m wings passing low over a boat, chick begging; shags and yellow-legged gulls beneath, cicadas and scops owl in the maquis behind.
Firefly nightsA visual spectacle: synchronised flashing over meadows. For sound, the early-summer night ambience — crickets, nightingales, and scops owls.
Griffon vultures of the Bosa coast, SardiniaMostly visual: Italy's largest griffon colony riding the updraughts of volcanic sea cliffs. Sound is the Mediterranean swell under the cliffs, the wing-rush of birds passing close, hissing at the ledges, blue rock thrush and, in summer, Eleonora's falcons chattering along the coast.
Raptor migration: Strait of MessinaMostly visual — kettles of raptors — but also bee-eater flocks overhead, and swifts and hirundines passing.
Cantabrian mountains: chamois rut, bears and wallcreepersChamois whistling alarms and clattering hooves on limestone, alpine chough flocks, wallcreeper thin whistles from the gorge walls, bells and the Cares river; bears are silent and distant.
Douro Internacional: griffon and Egyptian vultures on the canyon wallsMostly visual, but the canyon is a natural reverb chamber: griffon wing-rush as they pass the viewpoint at eye level, hissing and grunting at the nests carrying across the gorge, alpine swifts screaming along the walls, blue rock thrush and the river far below.
The Rock: soaring birds crossing the Strait over GibraltarA sight more than a sound: kettles of honey buzzards sliding off the Rock towards Africa, black kites in lines, storks clattering overhead in spring; the soundscape is the Levanter wind, the foghorn at Europa Point, yellow-legged gulls and the port. Barbary partridge calls at dawn on the Upper Rock.
Great bustard display on the Parndorfer Platte and HanságBustards are near-silent; the payload is the steppe dawn — skylark, corn bunting, quail, lapwing, grey partridge, crane pairs in the Hanság, marsh harrier, and the reed edge of the Neusiedler See a few kilometres away.
The Sado's resident bottlenose dolphinsA visual spectacle above water — blows and the slap of a breach — but a hydrophone over the side of the ferry or a kayak in the channel catches the clicks and whistles of a small, closely studied pod; the estuary is otherwise ferry engines, the Setúbal docks and the Atlantic swell at the bar.
At their peak in May: West and Central Africa
First-rains frog chorus of the Guinean savanna and forestWall-to-wall reed frogs, running frogs' bell notes and tree frogs from every flooded field and forest pool; thunder and rain are part of the take.
First-rains frog chorus of the Liberian forest zoneThe heaviest rains on the flyway coast produce some of its loudest amphibian nights — reed frogs, running frogs and tree frogs in every roadside pool and rice swamp, with thunder rolling in from the Atlantic.
Rainy-season frog chorus at TaïDense stacked choruses of Hyperolius and Afrixalus over the pools, the hammering of Leptopelis and the metallic ticking of puddle frogs from the leaf litter, with katydids above them.
First-rains frog chorus in the Upper Guinea forestLayered choruses of reed frogs and Afrixalus at 3–5 kHz over the clicking of Kassina and the low honks of Leptopelis, from every pool and swamp along the forest roads, with crickets and katydids filling the gaps.
Aftout es Saheli — West Africa's only lesser flamingo breeding colonyFourteen thousand flamingo chicks and their parents: a continuous honking, growling roar from the colony islets that carries over a kilometre of flat water at dawn, the wing-thunder of a few thousand adults lifting at a jackal, and the lesser flamingos' higher yapping among the greater flamingos' goose-like calls. Around it, the silence of the Sahel coast.
Seabird and spoonbill colonies on the Banc d'Arguin islandsRoyal and Caspian tern colonies screaming, pelican colonies grunting, spoonbill bill-clacking at the nest, and slender-billed gull chatter across the water from a stationary boat.
Tern and gull colonies of the Langue de BarbarieA packed royal and Caspian tern colony screaming on a sand islet in the Senegal river mouth, gull colonies underneath, and the Atlantic surf on the spit a few hundred metres away.
Northern bald ibis colonies, Souss-Massa & TamriGuttural 'hrump' and hissing calls at the cliff, and the low grunting chatter of a feeding flock working the coastal steppe. The world's last truly wild population — around 95% of it — lives on these few kilometres of cliff.
Sacred-grove monkeys at Tafi Atome and Boabeng-FiemaMona monkeys' booming male calls and chattering troops moving through the sacred grove, the deep rolling roar of male white-thighed colobus at dawn at Boabeng-Fiema, and a village waking up underneath.
Waza: elephants, giraffes and the Sahelian floodplainElephants at the pools, crowned crane duets across the floodplain at dawn, a Sahelian chorus of doves, sandgrouse and larks, and hyena at night around Waza camp.
Bobiri forest: four hundred butterfly species on a May morningMostly a visual spectacle: clouds of blues and swallowtails on the wet road, charaxes crashing into fermenting fruit. But the forest at dawn from the guesthouse veranda — hornbills, greenbuls, the whistles of the forest robin, cicadas at first light — is a genuine Upper Guinea chorus 30 km from Kumasi.
Also going on in May
Midnight-sun taiga chorus in PasvikBluethroat and redwing song across bog and pine, brambling, cuckoo, whooper swans and cranes from the lakes, red-necked phalarope, spotted redshank, hawk owl screeching, the Pasvik river; a bear may pass — Norway's densest brown bear population.
Cranes dancing on the dune heaths and bogsCrane pairs duetting and bugling across the wet dune slacks at first light, the dance's wing-flaps, curlew, golden plover and snipe drumming around them; ravens; the North Sea in Thy.
Nightjars churringContinuous mechanical churring with changes of gear, wing-claps, 'coo-ick' flight calls, with tree pipits and woodlarks at dusk.
Nightjars churring on the Kalmthoutse HeideThe dry, sustained churr of nightjars from the pine edges, rising and falling as the bird turns its head, broken by 'kwik' calls and wing-claps; woodlarks' song at dusk, natterjacks rasping from the fens; the hum of the port of Antwerp on the horizon.
Nightjars and woodlarks of the Landes pine forestChurring nightjars from every clear-fell in Europe's largest planted forest, woodlarks still singing at dusk, and the surf from the Atlantic dunes if you are near the coast.
Golden jackal choruses of DalmatiaThe rising, yelping, quavering group howl of a jackal family — three or four voices climbing over each other for half a minute — answered from the next olive grove and the next, with scops owls, nightjars and crickets underneath on summer nights and silence and sea on winter ones.
Berlengas: Cory's shearwaters calling over the island at nightHundreds of Cory's shearwaters wailing and sobbing over the island in the dark — the Atlantic's strangest chorus — with the yellow-legged gull colony grumbling, shags croaking on the ledges and the swell in the sea caves. On the mainland, the same birds raft silently off Cabo Carvoeiro at dusk.
Tiwai Island — eleven primates and the Moa river dawnOne of the densest primate soundscapes in Africa: Diana monkeys' explosive alarm calls, red colobus chatter, the roar of king colobus, chimps' pant-hoots across the river, hornbills whooshing overhead, and the Moa river's rapids underneath.
The Plateau fruit bats of Abidjan — a city-centre roost flying out to the Banco forestA shrieking, squabbling wall of sound from the big trees of the Plateau administrative district, wing-slaps and jostling, then the rush of the evening emergence over the avenues and the lagoon bridges. The return at first light is quieter and more musical — thousands of bats settling and arguing over branches above the empty Sunday streets.
Upper Guinea rainforest dawn chorus — Kakum & AnkasaGreat blue turacos bubbling from the emergents, the far-carrying wailing of white-crested hornbills, yellow-casqued hornbills' whooshing wingbeats, chattering monkeys, cicadas switching on with the light and the screaming of tree hyrax at night.
Pendjari: lions, elephants and hippos at the dry-season poolsLions roaring across the Pendjari plain in the small hours — one of the few places in West Africa where this is still likely — hippos bellowing at Mare Bali, elephants at the pools, hyena whoops and a savanna dawn of francolins, ground hornbills and doves.
Monte Alén: the Río Muni rainforest dawn, elephants and the goliath frog riversA Central African lowland chorus: hornbills whooshing overhead, the bubbling of greenbuls and the far pant-hoots of chimpanzees, mandrill grunts, elephant rumbles at the swamp edge. The goliath frog itself is nearly silent (no vocal sac) — its rivers are a night of other frogs and the roar of water over rock.
Príncipe after dark: the scops owl described in 2022, and the island's endemics at dawnA fast, insect-like 'tuu-tuu-tuu' at about one note a second, often as a duet with the female higher-pitched, from the old-growth forest of the uninhabited south — a sound nobody had named until 2022. Before dark, the island's grey parrots screaming to roost; at dawn, the thrush, the thrush-babbler, the speirops and the Príncipe sunbird in a forest with no roads.
Lopé: the mandrill super-groups of the dry seasonA horde of several hundred mandrills on the move is one of the loudest things in an African forest: a rolling wave of grunts, two-phase 'crowing' from the males, screams, branches breaking and the drumming of hundreds of feet in the leaf litter, approaching for minutes before anything is seen and fading for minutes after. Around it, the savanna–forest dawn: hornbills, greenbuls, elephants rumbling at the forest edge.
Puffin arrival day on Lovund and the Røst coloniesThe wing-roar and growling of a puffin colony wheeling over the slope, kittiwakes, eagles; on Røst, Leach's and storm petrels at night; the Atlantic.
Sperm whales of the Bleik canyon, AndenesWith a hydrophone: sperm whale click trains and creaks from 1,000 m down (the operators locate whales acoustically), occasional codas; above water, the explosive blow every 10–15 s at the surface and the tail-fluke dive; fulmars and gannets around the boat.
'Sort sol' — starling murmurations over the Wadden Sea marshesThe rush of a million wings folding in a single turn, the crackle of the flock settling into the reed, then a vast chattering roost; a raptor strike sends a rippling roar through the whole mass; morning departures leave in waves.
Nightjars and woodlarks in the dune plantationsNightjar churring from clear-fell edges, wing-claps and 'coo-ick' flight calls, woodlark's cascading song at dusk, long-eared owl chicks squeaking, roe deer barking; the North Sea surf behind the Thy dunes.
Black grouse leksBubbling 'rookooing' from displaying males, hissing 'tchu-wee' sneezes and flutter jumps; curlew and snipe often in the same soundscape.
Storm petrels at Mousa BrochPurring and hiccupping from inside the Iron Age broch walls, and the bat-like flutter of returning birds passing your head.
Swift screaming partiesHigh-speed screaming packs racing around rooftops, doppler passes at head height, and the sound of summer evenings.
Bavarian Forest: pygmy and Tengmalm's owls, woodpeckers, lynx countryPygmy owl's piping series at dusk, Tengmalm's 'po-po-po-po' from the bark-beetle deadwood forest, Ural owl barking, three-toed woodpecker drumming rolls, nutcrackers; the loudest silence in Germany in the dead-spruce stands.
Capercaillie and black grouse — the ones you do not visitThe capercaillie's accelerating clicks, 'cork-pop' and grinding — a very quiet song (audible to ~200 m) that is almost never recorded in Germany without a permit. Black grouse bubbling in the Alps.
Paklenica canyons: eagle owl, chamois and rock birdsEagle owl's deep 'oo-hu' bouncing between 400 m canyon walls, rock partridge cackling at dawn, alpine swift screams, blue rock thrush, chamois alarm whistles, the Velika Paklenica stream.
Bee-eater & roller coloniesRolling 'prruip' calls of bee-eaters overhead all day, the crow-like chatter of rollers.
Flamingo colonies & courtshipGoose-like gabbling of big flocks, and the synchronised 'marching' displays with a constant honking.
Golden jackal choruses on the KarstRising yelping group howls — faster and higher than wolves — answered by neighbouring families across the limestone plateau; the densest population in Italy.
Swift screaming parties over old townsScreaming packs racing between palazzi, the deeper trilling of alpine swifts from cliff-like towers, bells and evening passeggiata below.
Iberian wolf howling, Sierra de la CulebraPack choruses with pups' yips across the heather-and-pine sierra, roe deer barks, and the deep quiet of one of the emptiest corners of Spain.
Spring amphibian chorus of the Middle Atlas lakes and MamoraA wall of Sahara frog laughter and the slow purr of Berber toads from the reed margins of the crater lakes, tree frogs' hard 'crra' from the willows, and — in the flooded cork-oak dayas of Mamora — the underwater 'kok' of Morocco's endemic spadefoot.
Spring passage and desert night birds around MerzougaThe desert's two great night voices — the endless churring of Egyptian nightjar and the deep hoot of pharaoh eagle-owl — over a noise floor close to nothing; by day, the surprise of a full Palearctic passerine chorus grounded in a dune-edge tamarisk oasis, sandgrouse arriving to drink, and flamingo and shelduck on the salt lake in a wet year.
White storks bill-clattering on the Chellah walls, RabatDozens of pairs bill-clattering with heads thrown back on the minaret and the medieval walls, wings thumping on landing, and below them the cattle egret roost and the Bou Regreg valley.
Humpback whales breeding in Sal Rei bay, Boa VistaThe only place on the flyway to put a hydrophone on singing North Atlantic humpbacks: long structured songs that carry kilometres through the bay, plus the slap and crack of breaches and pectoral slaps on calm mornings. Above water it is wind, surf and the outboard.
Raso and Branco — Cape Verde shearwater islets and the Raso larkA Macaronesian petrel night in the tropics: thousands of Cape Verde shearwaters wailing and cackling as they come in off the sea, the rush of wings down the canyons close overhead, geckos chirping into the small hours, tropicbird screams by day. No people, no engines, no lights.
Dindéfélo — savanna chimpanzees pant-hooting under the Fouta Djallon escarpmentThe northern-most chimpanzee chorus in Africa: pant-hoots climbing to screams from the gallery forest under the escarpment, buttress drumming echoing off the cliff, baboons barking in reply, then the waterfall and a hornbill dawn. The village wakes with cockerels, mortars and the mosque — walk 20 minutes out and it is gone.
Niokolo-Koba — hippos, lions and the Gambia river in the dry seasonHippo pods bellowing on the Gambia river below the Simenti terrace, lions roaring across the dry savanna, hyenas, and at dawn the booming of ground hornbills and the calls of spur-winged geese and Egyptian plovers on the sandbars.
Abuko gallery forest — dawn chorus and monkeysRed colobus barks and crashing through the canopy, turacos' rolling calls, the hornbill pairs, and a full gallery-forest dawn 15 minutes from the coast hotels — the easiest West African forest chorus to reach.
Hippos and the chimpanzee islands of the River Gambia National ParkHippo pods grunting and blowing on the river bends below Janjanbureh, chimpanzee pant-hoots carrying across the water from the Baboon Islands, baboon troops on the banks and fish eagles at every bend.
Tanji beach and the Bijol Islands — terns, gulls and the fish-landing roostA gull-and-tern roost of thousands screaming over the fish-landing beach as pirogues come in, the market crowd, the smokehouses, and across the water the Bijol colonies — The Gambia's only breeding seabirds.
Chimpanzee dawn chorus in the Cantanhez forestsChimpanzee pant-hoot choruses and drumming carrying through the northernmost primary forest in Africa, colobus roars, hornbills' wingbeats and grey parrots' screeching over the oil-palm villages of the Nalu people.
Mount Nimba — chimpanzees of Bossou and the Nimba highlandsStone-on-stone nut cracking and pant-hoots from the Bossou hills — the most-studied wild chimpanzees in West Africa — and above them the grassland-and-cloud-forest soundscape of Nimba: montane birds, wind in the ridge grass, and the tiny viviparous toad's calls in the wet season.
Île Alcatraz — the only brown booby colony between Cabo Verde and São ToméA tropical booby rock: the braying and whistling of thousands of brown boobies, the grating roar of a royal tern colony, wings everywhere, guano and fish — a sound that exists nowhere else on the West African mainland coast. Only the sea and your own outboard compete.
Outamba-Kilimi — hippos, chimps and the northern savanna at nightHippo pods on the Little Scarcies river, chimps and colobus in the gallery forests at dawn, ground hornbills booming, and savanna nights with nightjars and hyenas — Sierra Leone's oldest park and its emptiest.
Straw-coloured fruit bats over FreetownThe squabbling, squeaking chorus of a straw-coloured fruit bat roost and the wing-rush of the dusk emergence over a city — one of the great urban wildlife sounds of West Africa, if the colony can be found.
Western Area Peninsula forest — the dawn chorus above FreetownA rainforest dawn chorus 30 minutes from the capital: hornbills, turacos, greenbuls, sooty mangabey whoops, and at night the astonishing screams of tree hyrax and the pant-hoot chorus of Tacugama's 100+ rescued chimpanzees.
Amansuri wetland by canoe: Ghana's largest swamp forest and the Nzulezo stilt villageA paddled dugout through blackwater swamp forest: kingfishers, the yelps of monkeys, hornbills, herons lifting off the raffia, frogs along the channel and the drip of the forest canopy — then the open Amansuri lake and the sounds of a village on stilts: children, chickens, paddles.
Fruit bat colony on the cliffs of Wli FallsA high, ceaseless chattering from many thousands of bats hanging on the cliff face beside the upper cascade, then the rush of wings as the colony peels off at dusk over the pool, all against the falls.
Lama forest and Lokoli swamp: red-bellied monkeys and the last forest chorus of the Dahomey GapGreat blue turacos and yellow-casqued hornbills in a 2,000 ha island of semi-deciduous forest surrounded by farmland — the fullest forest chorus in Benin — with red-bellied monkeys' soft calls in the understorey and, at Lokoli, a swamp forest of frogs, kingfishers and dripping trees from a dugout.
Kainji Lake: hippos and savanna nights on the Oli riverHippo choruses on the Oli river pools at dusk, hyena and nightjars around the camp, baboon barks, and the wide Guinea-savanna dawn of francolins, hornbills and doves.
Yankari: elephants on the Gaji river and Wikki nightsElephants at the Gaji river pools, baboon troops around Wikki camp, a savanna dawn of francolins, doves and hornbills, and at night the warm-spring valley's bats, nightjars and owls.
Nouabalé-Ndoki: gorillas and elephants at Mbeli BaiA silverback's chest-beats and a family's contented feeding grunts in the open, from a platform 20 m above one of the Congo Basin's most-watched clearings; elephants splashing at night, sitatunga barking, parrots at dawn, and a rainforest with no engine within a day's walk.
Kumbira forest: the Gabela endemics at dawnRed-crested turacos croaking through the coffee-forest canopy, the loud, ringing calls of Monteiro's and Gabela bushshrikes, the akalat's thin song in the understorey — a set of species found nowhere else on earth — with farm cocks, goats and the Conda road in the background.
Mount Moco: Swierstra's francolin and the Afromontane forestThe loud, rasping crow of Swierstra's francolin — Angola's most wanted bird — from the remnant forest patches at dawn, sunbirds and batises in the trees, and the wind over montane grassland at 2,400 m with a village waking far below.
Okavango headwaters: the Cuito source lakes and the CuandoOne of the least-recorded soundscapes in Africa: hippos and Pel's fishing owl on the Cuito, frog choruses on peat-edged source lakes, wattled cranes over the floodplains, the miombo dawn with its cuckoos and barbets, and no engine for days.
Harbour porpoises in the Little BeltPorpoises are silent to the ear (their clicks are at 130 kHz) — a hydrophone with a wideband recorder gets the click trains; audibly, the sharp puff of a surfacing blow a few metres off the rocks at Røjle Klint, and the Old Little Belt Bridge traffic.
Bat emergence & autumn swarmingMostly ultrasonic: echolocation and feeding buzzes, social calls. Noctule social calls and some horseshoe calls are partly audible.
Bottlenose dolphins from the shoreWith a hydrophone: whistles, clicks, and burst pulses. Above water: blows and splashes very close to shore.
Baie de Somme: harbour seals & wader roostsSeal pups bawling and adults grunting from the sandbanks at 300 m, oystercatcher and curlew roosts, and spoonbills clattering in the Marquenterre heronry.
Fin whales & sperm whales off the Côte d'AzurWith a hydrophone: sperm whale clicks and codas, striped dolphin whistles and the shipping lane behind. Fin whale 20 Hz pulses need a hydrophone with real LF extension.
Iroise: grey seals of Molène and Sein dolphinsSeal moans and pup calls from the reef islets, a resident bottlenose pod around Sein and Molène, and the Iroise swell — France's most oceanic soundscape.
Marmots, ibex and vultures, Hohe TauernMarmot alarm whistles bouncing between glacier-polished walls, chough flocks, ibex hoof-clatter, the wing-rush of a griffon passing at 20 m, ptarmigan; glacier streams and cowbells below.
Bat emergence from karst cavesAudible squeaks and wing rustle at cave mouths from Miniopterus colonies of thousands; with a bat detector, horseshoe-bat constant-frequency calls at 80–110 kHz and bent-winged FM sweeps.
Bottlenose dolphins of the Kvarnerić, LošinjWith a hydrophone: whistles, echolocation click trains and burst-pulse squawks; above water, blows and tail-slaps; unfortunately also every outboard within 10 km.
Alpine summer: marmots & ibexPiercing marmot alarm whistles echoing across cirques, cowbells far below, alpine choughs, streams.
Fin whales & sperm whales, Pelagos SanctuaryWith a hydrophone: sperm whale clicks and codas, dolphin whistles. Fin whale calls are infrasonic (about 20 Hz) and need a suitable hydrophone.
Great bustard & little bustard displayGreat bustards are almost silent in display (a low grunt and the rustle of the 'foam bath' plumage), but little bustards give their dry 'prrrt' snort and wing-whistle jump, sandgrouse call in flight and calandra larks sing continuously overhead.
Orcas hunting bluefin tuna in the StraitWith a hydrophone: orca calls and echolocation, pilot whale whistles, and the tuna-boat engines they hunt around. Above water: blows, and the shouts from the fishing boats.
Strait of Gibraltar: raptor & stork passageMostly visual — kettles of thousands — but bee-eater flocks pour over calling all day, honey buzzards pass at head height in a levante, and the stork pre-roost at Los Lances is a bill-clattering crowd.
Castro Verde steppe: great bustard display and the calandra lark dawnA wall of calandra lark song over the cereal steppe at dawn, the dry 'prrrt' snort of little bustards, lesser kestrel colonies chattering on the farm buildings and, with luck, the low booming grunt of a displaying great bustard — mostly this is a sight: white 'foam-bath' males on the ridge lines.
Barbary macaque troops in the Middle Atlas cedar forestBarks, screams and the soft 'ooh' contact grunts of a troop moving through 30 m Atlas cedars, chest-thumping squabbles in the mating season, with Levaillant's woodpecker, firecrest and nuthatch in the canopy and wind in the cedars.
Eleonora's falcons hunting migrants off EssaouiraHigh 'kyah-kyah' alarm and contact calls carrying across 1 km of water from the colony (over 1,200 nests counted in 2016 — one of the largest in the world), and the surf and gull colony beneath.
Atlantic humpback dolphins of the Saloum delta — the species' last strongholdThrough a hydrophone: whistles and click-trains of a species almost never recorded (the surveys deploy SoundTraps and F-PODs to build its first sound library). Above water: blows, the slap of a fluke, pied kingfishers, and the mangrove's own chorus of herons and fiddler crabs at low water.
Red-billed tropicbird colony, Îles de la MadeleineTropicbirds' rasping, ratcheting display screams as pairs circle the basalt cliffs of Sarpan island a few metres overhead, surf in the sea caves, and Dakar's hum across 4 km of water.
Saltwater hippos of OrangoHippo grunts and blows from a lagoon inside island forest, then the same animals walking past the village beach at night and surfacing in the sea in the morning — the world's only regularly marine hippos.
Fouta Djallon — savanna chimpanzees and the Bafing highlandsChimp calls echoing off sandstone canyon walls in a savanna-woodland mosaic, baboon troops on the cliffs, hippos on the Bafing, and canyons full of waterfall noise after the rains — with the Fulani villages' cattle and calls to prayer.
Haut Niger National Park — the Mafou savanna and the upper NigerHippos on the upper Niger, ground hornbills' bass at dawn, chimps in the gallery forests of the Mafou core, and the dry savanna at night with hyenas and nightjars — a Sahelian-Guinean mix with almost nobody there.
Banco forest dawn chorus inside AbidjanA relict rainforest chorus — greenbuls, cuckoos, hornbills and monkeys — with the Abidjan motorway as a constant low bed. Useful as a first morning in the country and as a way of understanding what the forest belt sounded like.
Îles Ehotilé: fruit bats, waterbirds and mangrove lagoonFruit bats chattering on the roost islands and rushing out over the water at dusk, egret colonies bickering as they settle, terns and whimbrel over the flats, and dugout paddles in a mangrove-lined lagoon.
Forest dawn and butterflies around KpaliméThe fullest forest chorus in Togo — hornbills, cuckoos and greenbuls in the Klouto hills — with village cocks, cocoa farmers and the occasional motorbike.
W National Park (Benin sector): the Mékrou river and Koudou fallsHippos in the Mékrou gorge below Koudou falls, the water itself, bee-eaters and pratincoles over the river, and elephants at the pools; nights of hyena and nightjars.
Amurum Forest and the Jos Plateau: rock-fig dawn and wet-season songA plateau soundscape at 1,200 m: rock firefinches and indigobirds among the boulders, sunbirds in the gallery forest, cisticolas over the grassland, with Jos's mosques and traffic far below on still mornings.
Loango: forest elephants, buffalo and hippos on the ocean beachSurf behind everything. Elephants are near-silent on sand, but the rumbles and the crack of branches at the forest edge carry at dawn; hippo grunts from the lagoons at dusk; red river hog groups snuffling through the leaf litter; the chatter of river-martin flocks over the water in August–October and chimpanzee pant-hoots from the forest behind Akaka in the wet season.
Lésio-Louna: rewilded gorillas and the Batéké plateauGorillas calling and feeding on the river islands seen from a pirogue, the wide, wind-swept quiet of the Batéké plateau at dawn with larks and cisticolas, and at night frogs and nightjars along the gallery forests.
Iona and the Namib coast: desert dawn, flamingos and the Cunene mouthRüppell's korhaan and larks in the absolute silence of the Namib at dawn, flamingo flocks on the Baía dos Tigres shallows, Cape cormorant colonies, the surf and fog of the Skeleton Coast's northern end, and jackals at night.
Kissama (Quiçama): elephants and the Cuanza riverElephants on the Cuanza floodplain, hippos grunting from the river at dusk, fish eagles, and the coastal savanna's dawn of francolins, hornbills and doves — with the fog of the cacimbo damping everything until mid-morning.
Seals at Hvide Sande and on the Wadden Sea sandbanksHarbour seals are quiet — snorts, splashes, pups bleating on a haul-out; grey seal bulls moaning and roaring in winter; with a hydrophone, seal vocalisations and the tide; oystercatchers and the surf.
Spring raptor & stork passage over the Strait — Jbel MoussaMostly a visual event: kettles of hundreds of kites and storks spilling off the Spanish side and gaining height over Belyounech. Sound is the wind, bill-clattering storks on the ground, griffons' rasping wing-noise overhead and the reintroduced griffon colony's grunts on the cliffs.
Mediterranean monk seal colony, Cap BlancThe world's largest monk seal colony (around 300 animals) in a few sea caves and cliff-foot beaches: barks, snorts and pup bleats over surf — but mostly heard from above, at a distance, on the viewing platforms.
Hooded vultures of the Kombo coast — Africa's densest population at the fish beaches and abattoirsMostly silent birds in enormous numbers: the hiss and thin squealing at a carcass or fish-gut pile, the clatter of 200 pairs of wings lifting at once when a dog runs through, the thud of landings in the kapok roost at dusk. The real soundscape is the fish beach itself — pirogue crews, drying racks, gulls, kites and the vultures' shuffle. A phenomenon that no longer exists anywhere else in the species' range.
Lekki Conservation Centre: mona monkeys and swamp-forest birds in LagosMona monkeys' calls and crashes in the swamp forest, weavers and kingfishers along the boardwalk, and the Lekki–Epe expressway as a constant bed. A place to test rigs and get a first Nigerian forest recording, not a wilderness.
Brazzaville: the Congo river and the Djoué at dawnNot a spectacle but a way in: the Congo river's rapids below the city, kingfishers and herons at the Djoué mouth, weaver colonies in the riverside trees, and the two capitals' noise across the water.
Great bustard display, Havelland and BelzigBustards are essentially silent — the display is visual ('foam bath'); what you hear is the wet-meadow dawn: lapwing, curlew, skylark, whinchat, snipe drumming, crane pairs bugling, geese, and later corncrake.
Bearded vultures and golden eagles of the EngadinSilence and wind — the recording is of the alpine air, chough flocks, marmots and the occasional whoosh of a 2.8 m wingspan overhead; the visual spectacle is the point.
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