Naturerecordists 2001 Worldwide Dawn Chorus Recordings
Robin Carter Contribution
Copyright Robin Carter, 2001
Dawn Recording:Congaree.mp3
Recordist's Notes:
I got up and recorded the dawn sounds at Congaree Bluff Heritage Preserve, Calhoun County, South Carolina, USA, a new reserve overlooking the flood plain of the Congaree River and Congaree Swamp National Monument. The recording site was an observation deck atop a 40 meter bluff (quite a dropoff for our flat part of the world), with a 20 km view over the floodplain forest below. This is our only local hawk watch spot, and it is incredible, especially since it overlooks the Congaree Swamp, a globally important bird area, according to Birdlife International.
It was very hot (22 Celsius) and humid, even at dawn, since a line of thunderstorms had just moved through, and another was on its way. The chorus of insects (crickets, cicadas and kadydids) was very impressive, but in terms of my primary interest (bird song) there was very little. I did record a migrating flock of about 300 Fish Crows leaving a roost in the floodplain and flying directly over my observation point. Now if we did this again in April or May the sounds at this recording site would be rather more varied. This is, for much of the Northern Hemisphere, the worst time of year for recording bird song, but good for insects.