Wild Soundscapes: Discovering the Voice of the Natural World, Revised Edition

My soul turns into a tree, And an animal, and a cloud bank. Then changed and odd it comes home And asks me questions. What should I reply? —Hermann Hesse, “Sometimes”

As our understanding and connection to the natural world increase, it is my hope that we will be moved to learn about, preserve, and protect the divine voices of these vulnerable habitats.

Part of the discovery of wild soundscapes is discovering what specific types of habitats resonate with you.

You’ll hear more because the surface of your ears that collects sound just got bigger.4

Printed out, these might take the shape of an envelope the size of a CD (five inches square) with a graphic and an audio CD of a favorite location you have recorded.

Roger and Katy Payne, were the first marine examples most people had ever heard.1 The

In another publication, Jakob von Uexküll, a behavioral physiologist of the early twentieth century, referred to the notion of sensory niches in general.

Perception Space—The Final Frontier,” by Lars Chittka and Axel Brockmann, PLoS Biology 3 (2005), no.

what we hear in wild places is not only fascinating and immeasurably rich in detail, but absolutely vital to our lives and our survival.