Beaver splash and the crater lake band

May 28, 08:29 PM

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In the summer of 2019, while sitting beside a small unnamed lake/pond, which friends and I called Crater Lake (because it looked like a crater), I was attempting to record loons in the late afternoon/early evening. Instead, a beaver swam around circling and splashing about near the nest of a pair of loons and their loonlets, messing with them far as I could tell. Thus, we get no loon sounds but some reverberating beaver tail whips. 

The lake itself was situated where I was sat several meters from the shore nestled in an almost amphitheater type setting, and the recording reflects as much (especially when listening with headphones or a good pair of speakers). The frogs, songbirds set the stage for a sound rich environment, and the beaver tail led the way, so to speak, or at the very least, punctuated the recording with deep bass resonance. 

Hence, the playful title I attributed to the recording. I find the tail whip sounds especially unique and felt serendipitous I was able to capture it - sounds of the northwoods at its finest. It remains one of my favourite nature recordings that I have made. 

Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest near Iron River, WI recorded by Tenali Hrenak.