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Summary:

Lots of failed recording attempts this week. Unseasonably warm weather, wet conditions and a constant fog that has been hanging around since the beginning of the year has brought wildlife activity in northern Michigan to a halt. This episode is notably brief and not indicative of our normal episodes, but I think it is interesting and worth listening to. I cut down 30 minutes of Red Fox activity to just under two minutes of their yipping and calling. I will head back to this area for a more complete episode next week.

The Rest of the Story:

I don’t know how the weather is where you live, but we it felt like we haven’t seen the sun in 3275 days here in northern Michigan. It is unseasonably warm, and a claustrophobic fog has enveloped us since the beginning of the new year. Sounds are hushed, tones muted, and the wildlife appears to be in the same bored stupor as us humans. The mist hangs heavily in the air, and it truly feels like we are living on an alien planet.

I hesitate to call this week’s recording an episode because it is, shall we say, brief? I hiked a few trails today, hoping to come across some interesting sounds that didn’t involve a lake, river or stream. Even though I love the sound of water, I have limits. Recording in winter, or what northern Michigan is giving us for a winter, requires patience and a lot of failed attempts. I know where to find wildlife most of the time, but damn if they haven’t eluded me as of late. 

Today started at the Kettles Trail, where the trail runs alongside a bog deep in the woods. (I know. More water.) There is a nice overlook that I thought might work for birds or perhaps otters or muskrats. While the trail had the right ingredients, its proximity to M-72 (State Highway) kept it out of the running for any audio recordings. However, it is an amazing trail and definitely worth a visit. It could work in the right conditions, such as an overnight recording. While there is a state highway not too far off, this is northern Michigan, so the chances are good that I could find 30 minutes in the middle of the night with no traffic.

With the first hike under my belt, I made my way to the Windy Moraine Trail, which features an overlook above Glen Lake (I know, I know). This trail is essentially straight up and then straight down, but I still love it. There are sections where forest meets field, which is usually a great opportunity to record deer, fox, birds, etc but not today. It is a short trail but will definitely get your heart rate up in the stratosphere. I saw fox tracks and evidence of Pileated Woodpeckers but I didn’t find any wildlife to record. 

I wanted/needed a recording for this week so drove over to Pyramid Point and hiked up the bluff that overlooks Lake Michigan (again; I know). It was dark by this time and there was complete cloud cover, so I wasn’t expecting a view, but I hoped I might get a recording of the waves below as they echoed around the standing trees at the top of the bluff. There was very little wind, so the waves were about as gentle as a mud puddle and barely audible in my headphones. The fog rolled in and it felt like I was standing in a cloud. I made a recording but didn’t have a high level of confidence that it would be usable. 

I completed the loop and as I was hiking through the meadows near the trailhead; I caught sight of a Red Fox in the beam of my headlamp. Then I saw another one and a minute later, started hearing them yip. The yipping sound followed me all the way back to the trailhead. As I got to the trailhead, I hooked up my shotgun microphone to the recorder, hoping to track their calls as they circled around the area. The good news is that I could record the yips, which is the basis for this week’s episode. The bad news is that the foxes started drifting away from my area and the yips became less frequent. 

Keep in mind that this is a mono recording using a directional microphone. I distilled 30 minutes of recording down to less than 2 minutes because as foxes got further away, their yips became less and less frequent. I have put together a plan for next week, which will involve multiple recorders and microphones spaced out through the area. With a bit of luck, I will have a full episode for you next week. 

Recording Details:

• Date and Time: 1/11/2023 | 8:25 PM

• Location: Pyramid Point at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

• Landscape/Feature: Meadows

• Conditions: 38F (3C), night, complete cloud cover, heavy fog

• Recording Device: Zoom F6 Field Recorder

• Microphone(s): Audio Technica BP 4025

• Digital Audio Workstation: Adobe Audition