POINT PETRE – A Birder’s Paradise

( review by Terry Sprague)

Recorded right at Prince Edward County’s Point Petre, this latest Earthhaven CD from Oasis Productions is sure to please.

It was while I was having dinner with our neighbours awhile back when I heard a nature CD playing softly in the background that I hadn’t heard until then. I was surprised to learn that the CD in question had been recorded right at our very own Point Petre, in Prince Edward County. The CD contained sound tracks of waves coming into shore, and right away I could picture myself sitting on the shore of Point Petre as the water came rolling up onto the cobblestone beach. There were gulls – recorded on Gull Bar just east of there, I was told, and field sparrows, great blue herons and woodpeckers, crickets and spring peepers. I could see myself wandering around by myself, for that is how you often find yourself along this remote shoreline of the county, which adds to its special quality. The CD was titled Lakeside Savannah, very appropriate for this stretch of Lake Ontario shoreline, dominated by tall grasses, shrubs and willows, all struggling to survive in this area of rather sparse soil and challenging conditions.

There are currently 365 species of birds that have been confirmed as having appeared in Prince Edward County. Due to its location in Prince Edward County, Point Petre has seen close to 350 of these, from passerines, to shorebirds, to waterfowl, to hawks in migration. Grant Mackay of Oasis Productions has not forgotten his visit to Point Petre and the wonderful sounds he captured there. In a re-make of his very successful earlier attempt, POINT PETRE A Birder’s Paradise, contains several previously unreleased tracks, highlighting the symphony of song, provided by the area’s avian residents. Local residents can relate to some of the track titles, namely, At the Foot of Charwell Point, On the Simpson Road, and Birds of the Gull Bar. Birds of the Rookery captures some of the excitement of this huge great blue heronry, once home to over 250 pairs of herons in its heyday, and protected within a Ducks Unlimited impoundment.

It is rare for someone these days to capture these sounds without an oncoming car or an ATV to break the mood, but Grant has managed to do so admirably, for this is a remote section south of Army Reserve Road where few humans bother to travel or explore. It is sad, but a bonus for those who appreciate nature recordings as it readily takes us to these places while in the comfort of an arm chair or in our cars, as we picture the ping pong ball notes of the field sparrow from a nearby bush, and the gulls conversing among themselves on the gravel bar.

Point Petre, and its predecessor, Lakeside Savannah, are but two nature CDs that have been produced by Oasis Productions Ltd. in the Earthaven series, albeit the only two recorded in Prince Edward County. The Forest Marsh came about when he accidentally came upon an oasis of secluded marshland while exploring near his rural home. It was an unexpected detour that found him in a deep valley with a serene marsh.

Others in the series have included Woodland Summer where songbirds fill the air accented by a rippling brook in the background. Nightscapes gives us a feel for the nocturnal sounds, and Wilderness Mysterium features the calls of the wild mixed with music. Grant Mackay says, “Earthaven has made it part of its mission to venture into completely unexplored wilderness areas.”

“We tread very lightly by canoe or foot (only) into these areas, avoiding the use of any motorized land or water transportation,” he stresses, adding that he got started recording nature sounds only as recently as 1998, after a trip into the Quebec wilderness with a recording engineer friend, Paul LaChapelle who recorded Nightscapes and Woodland Summer. His plan was to move deeper into the wild with each recording, partially for thematic reasons, but also due to the difficulty in finding undisturbed land near civilization.

Point Petre and its predecessor Lakeside Savannah, are prime examples of what can be heard, and captured on CD, right in Prince Edward County’s remote areas, amazingly, just a short distance from Sandbanks Provincial Park where several thousand visitors can be present on any given day in summer.

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PUZZLE LAKE PARADISE

 ( review by Terry Sprague)

To date, I have not yet been to Puzzle Lake Provincial Park, located approximately 12 km north of Tamworth, and 60 km northeast of Kingston.

However, after listening to Puzzle Lake Paradise, I now have a pretty good idea of what to expect when I make my maiden voyage to this Natural Environment 9,200-acre park that was established back in 2001. Natural environment parks incorporate outstanding recreational landscapes with representative natural features to provide high quality recreational and educational experiences. The Puzzle Lake site is so classified due to its tremendous variety of habitats and vegetation communities, its high number of provincially rare species, and its excellent recreational opportunities.  The rugged, diverse terrain supports this abundance of rare communities and species, including some found nowhere else in Canada, and hosts 16 provincially rare species: the highest known number of rarities found in an ANSI in eastern and central Ontario.

It is because of these attributes that Puzzle Lake was an obvious destination for Stephen Bacckus (a.k.a. Grant Mackay) when he recorded this CD just a few years ago. The rugged and diverse terrain is composed of a mosaic of rock barrens, igneous cliffs, dry-mesic mixed forest. But it was the numerous wetlands and lakes which formed the stage for the excellent recording – and he captures the essence of this area admirably in Puzzle Lake Paradise.

The album was recorded with a Zoom H6 Handy Recorder using an MS microphone. This especially designed microphone can capture wide open spaces by combining a unidirectional mid mic for the centre with a bidirectional side mic that captures the sounds from both left and right. The result is an extremely accurate ability to record virtually every vocalizing creature in its entire scope. Even very distant vocalizations, barely audible to the human ear have been picked up in this recording.

While just a treat to visualize the setting through the recording alone, a far better experience can be had if one has a knowledge of the sounds that are emanating from the habitat. Then, it is possible to simply sit back, close our eyes, and the entire scene unfolds sublimely before us, as we let our minds drift to this remote setting, thanks to the exceptional ability of the microphones to record everything in its entirety.

The recording opens up at the Norway Lake Marsh with Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds along with a Warbling Vireo and a distant Wood Thrush providing some distant background.  A few short phrases from a Baltimore Oriole towards the end.

Rich phrases of a Wood Thrush begins the next track. So well recorded is it that you can even pick up the sometimes indistinct slur at the end of each delivery. The hurried notes of a distant Rose-breasted Grosbeak come in while the sound of Canada geese in distant background echoes off the trees.

The Wood Thrush trails off as we return to an interior lake ambiance and a more wetland environment with sound of Red-winged Blackbirds, American Toads, Leopard Frogs, and the peeping of a lone Spring Peeper. A Chipping Sparrow takes centre stage for a few moments.

These creatures transition smoothly into a mix of wildlife sounds including a Common Loon, continuing Chipping Sparrow, and the more robust notes from a Swamp Sparrow, along with very distant Common Raven and Blue Jays and the creaking notes of a Purple Finch.  An American Toad can be heard in the background.

An agitated Red squirrel scolds, and the Spring Peepers, Swamp Sparrow continues often taking centre stage, with very distant White-throated Sparrow sings his “Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada” refrain as a loon wails in background. Now and then, distant geese.  An approaching raven and the sounds of chipmunks and Red Squirrels concludes this track.

As the CD continues, a squirrel is apparent while Swamp Sparrow chips in background moving on to a Spring Peeper taking centre stage for a few minutes. A toad can be heard in the distant background, while Red-winged Blackbirds reaffirm the location for this track.

The wind picks up as the next track begins with a small chorus of Spring Peepers. A Northern Flicker calls persistently nearby. On Norway Lake Road, Spring Peepers return in a din of sound overriding much of everything in the background including a handful of Leopard Frogs and hidden Sora producing its ker-wee call. Way in the distance you can barely discern a Barred Owl calling.

Puzzle Lake Paradise concludes with a Canada Goose duet. At the forefront in this is track is a pair of Canada Geese with a few Red-winged Blackbirds in the background while a couple Spring Peepers produce a few calls, as well as the snoring of a couple Leopard Frogs and a distant Northern Flicker, Common Grackle and a distant Pileated Woodpecker calls once toward the end to conclude this recording.

As in any nature recording, there are few mystery sounds in the background, but some mystery is always needed in any outdoor experience.

Listeners who have enjoyed some of his past recordings such as Lakeside Savannah (2005), Point Petre – A Birder’s Paradise and, The Wildlands, both 2008, The Forest Marsh (2008), and Frog Power (2011), will certainly enjoy the peace and tranquility that is offered by Puzzle Lake Paradise.

(following is from his website)

“For over two decades, Stephen Bacchus, has been an intrepid adventurer into the Canadian wilderness with the goal of recording exclusively “Canadian” nature and wilderness sounds. With his field recorder and microphones in hand, he has captured pristine environmental and wildlife sounds from some of the deepest and most remote corners of the wild. His travels have taken him across both the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Born in 1959, Stephen Bacchus has many years of experience as a composer, sound designer, and producer. He has a large repertoire of best-selling and artistically adventurous albums that he has both authored and produced. Stephen Bacchus aka Grant Mackay began working in sound at age nine. He created his first formal sound composition, Battle of The Bouvine in 1975, at the young age of sixteen.”

Be sure to checkout the STEPHEN BACCUS website where Puzzle Lake Paradise may be ordered as well as his many other releases.