Site of the Week
Naturesongs http://www.naturesongs.com
We’ve had a birdsong site on Site of the week before http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/webguide/122sofweek.html - but this one may actually take the biscuit. Not only can you listen to hundreds of amazing bird recordings, but you can download and hear insect, amphibian, reptile, mammal and even human noises too.
The sound files are pleasingly long in many cases - you get to hear more than just a quick tweet or screech. And once you delve into the links, you’ll realise that you’re really spoilt for choice. The site concentrates mainly on North American species, but there’s plenty to peruse - from the family favourites like the mallard, to some really unusual ones. How about the mating calls of the phainopepla or the Northern flicker? Or the closely intertwined courtship duet of the bananaquit?
The search facility is very useful - try looking for a coot’s call: is it a bird, or is it someone making a balloon sculpture? The other sections are packed with odd sounds too - listen to a red poison dart frog chirping, or the genuinely spine-chilling whine of a vast swarm of phantom midges. There’s a section of mystery sounds, too, where the creature in question was heard but not seen. Can you help the site’s author with some detective work?
On the down side, the site could be a little more user-friendly - there’s so much content, and reaching it all is a matter of scrolling down and picking out the tiny links one by one. But with such a great collection of extraordinary noises, it’s worth the effort.
Richard Northover
Info-content ** Readability ** Appearance ** User friendliness *** Kids *** Plug-ins QuickTime