Chippewa Nights
Recordist/Credit: Curt Olson
Curt Olson has the rare gift of transforming the
biophonies of Central and Northern Minnesota in Americaﾒs Midwest, into lovely
soundscapes. This one, from a remote lake in the Chippewa National Forest,
provides an especially poignant sense of place with an unusual story that
unfolded in the spring of 2008. Aside from tail slaps, beaver vocalizations have
been especially difficult to record. A bit more than 32 minutes into this
recording, as the sun goes down, a beaver swims in solitary circles around the
small lake where where forest management workers had dynamited his lodge earlier
that afternoon. In the process, not only was the animalﾒs home destroyed but
probably its offspring and mate, as well. It is one of the most remarkable
lamentations ﾖ a cry for sanity ﾖ in any of these collections.
Birds:
Rose-breasted Grosbeak; Black-and-White Warbler; various other unspecified
Warblers , Canada Goose; various unspecified Ducks; Pilleated Woodpecker;
Baltimore Oriole; American Robin; Common Loon; Swamp Sparrow; Wilson's Snipe
(winnowing); Red-Winged Blackbird; Common Yellowthroat; Common Loon; Canada
Goose; Thrush; Veery; Oven Bird; American Robin; Warbling Veerio; Trumpeter
Swan; Catbird; Yellow-Bellied Sap Sucker; Winter Wren; Black and White Warbler;
Black-Capped Chickadee; Blue Jay; Kinglet; Rose-breasted Grosbeak;
White-throated Sparrow
Reptiles: Spring Peeper, Leopard Frog
Mammals: Pine Squirrel, Beaver
