The WSA features sounds from 80% of the West's bird species and 90% of the region's frog and toad species. This project focuses on 11 contiguous states - Arizona, Colorado, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. WSA also features sounds from animals in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to incorporate 60 additional hours of sounds in nature.
There are 3 different types of audio hosted on the WSA site: "Individual "species cuts" are often relatively short recordings that are commonly used for species identification and call analysis. In most cases, the WSA focuses on terrestrial vertebrates, including amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles. Ambient recordings, or "soundscapes" are usually longer recordings — up to an hour or more — that feature all of an area's sonic components together in concert. The National Park Service defines soundscape as 'the total acoustic environment of an area.' Interviews with scientists and other experts are included to give added context to the sounds, and will occasionally be heard on radio broadcasts and podcasts."
This is such a fabulous resource (and the website is very easy to use) for teachers and naturalists of all ages and I encourage you to spend some time on this site. For more background on the project, you can read this article that appeared in the U of U News Center: A Thousand Calls of the Wild Captured. Special thanks goes out to reader VD at the University of Utah who suggested a post about this subject.
Photo Credit: Jeff Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment