Beaver Lake
Northern Oregon Coast Range
Oregon Soundscapes
by John Hartog
Relax and enjoy these live recordings.
Six twenty-minute selections – 120 minutes total.
Currently available for online streaming or as a digital download of high quality MP3, 16bit WAV or FLAC.
Click here to visit the album website or use the player below.
Hundreds of years of depredation, first against the North American Beaver and then against a vast and lofted fog belt forest that once promoted giant Sitka Spruce, Western Red-cedar, and Western Hemlock… today the ecosystem remains degraded and fragmented.
For some small patches, like this small coastal lake, beavers have returned from near extinction to restore and steward a wild habitat.
This peaceful refuge is also treasured by people. The community maintains a walking trail here. Visitors come to find quietude and connect with nature.
Each of these stereo recordings tells a story in real time with depth and breadth, natural ambient rhythms, and a variety of biological voices.
Listen for the voices and sounds of:
North American Beaver (Castor canadensis)
Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus)
Pacific Chorus Frog (Pseudacris regilla) aka Tree Frog
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and other ducks
Northern Pygmy Owl (or possibly Northern Saw-whet Owl)
Douglas’ Squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasii)
What else do you hear?
Track 01: Terraced inlet
Recorded April 11 2005 at 07:45
Water from fog drips through boughs and stout branches of a towering Sitka spruce, sprinkling on the water, plunking on broad leaves of the fragrantly blooming skunk cabbage that grow in shallow terraced pools made by beavers. As drizzling mist lifts with the morning, Pacific wren sing exuberantly in long delicate phrases.
Listen for Pacific wren, varied thrush, a Steller’s jay…
Track 02: Singing for the rain
Recorded April 17 2005 at 20:10, after dark
As daylight fades on a cool and moist evening, Pacific chorus frogs (Pseudocris regilla) celebrate along the marshy shore. An American robin (Turdus migratorius) chuckles a while before settling in.
Misty rain falls, and water drips from a red alder that leans over the water. A North American beaver (Castor Canadensis) speaks to another in a joyful singing voice – and a tail slaps the water.
Track 03: A wind at dawn
Recorded April 23 2005 at 05:46
On a breezy morning, while distant voices are obscured by the wind, the nearby songs of the Pacific wren (Troglodytes pacificus) roll with the rhythmic breezes gusting softly through the trees.
Also listen for:
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)
Douglas’ Squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasii)
Track 04: Mergansers landing
Recorded April 30 2006 at 20:43, dusk.
A small flock of eight or so common mergansers (Mergus merganser) gathers nightly on the sheltered water. One by one, they drop through the high canopy and swoop low with roaring wings and skim to a rest on the water.
Track 05: Owl and flowing water
Recorded April 28 2006 at 04:30, predawn
The ambience of water sounds at the lake inlet are complemented by spells of hoots in the canopy from a Northern pygmy owl (Glaucidium gnoma), or possibly a Northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus).
Track 06: Beaver Lake just after dark
Recorded August 08 2011 at 21:25
Wait quietly at dusk along the path between the forest edge and the shore, crouch low behind a thicket of slough sedge and salmonberry, and listen. You might hear the activities of the North American beaver (Castor canadensis).
Material from this track was previously released as a 3-minute version.
Beaver Lake, Northern Oregon Coast Range
by John Hartog
Album released October 3, 2018
Recorded and produced by John Hartog.
Edited to treat or remove instances of distant highway noise and other problematic sounds.
Copyright 2018 John Hartog, all rights reserved.
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