Nesting in an old antenna

On São Miguel Island in the Azores, there is a decommissioned satellite communication Earth station featuring a 32-metre parabolic antenna. It was once integral to satellite communications, given its strategic mid-Atlantic location. Though it is not explicitly documented, we can assume it became redundant from the mid-1980s onward due to advancements in satellite communication technologies and the expansion of digital ground optical fibre networks.

I chanced upon the station when I was travelling around São Miguel in March 2024. Though visibly pronounced, I had not come across anything about it in my research before visiting the island. I was struck by many things as I walked around its grounds and climbed up the structure. Foremost, how this technologically derelict site had become home to a plethora of birdlife and other creatures.

This recording is taken in one of the chambers just below the main parabolic dish, where I found many birds nesting. The microphones are inside the chamber, and in this recording we hear the calls of the birds inside the chamber close to the microphones, as well as those that are perched on the external structure of the communications station, and those in flight around it. The strong winds of the day of the recording are also heard, which whistle through the crevices of the metal work into the recording site and at times rattle the structure. 

Recorded by Claire Matthews.