Sri Lanka Wildlife Sound Recording – The locations

Dry zone jungles
The location consists of areas of tall dry forest with rich biodiversity. Our selected site is free of man-made noises most of the time, and rich in the sounds of birds, some mammals and many insects.

Morning Soundscapes
(Rode NT4 XY stereo on Marantz PMD671)
(Note: wind sound in background is heavy due to monsoon winds in June)

Cool mountains
The two main locations selected are in our biodiversity-rich mountains.

Location 1 – Open grassland and secondary forest adjoin natural moisture-laden cloud forest. There is a  rich mix of sounds of birds confined to the hills, and widely distributed highland birds, together with those of an occasional mammal. At night there is a variety of frog sounds depending on temperature and humidity levels. Insect sounds may be loud at different times in the day. The locations within this site are mostly free of man-made noises.

Morning Soundscapes
(Audio-technica AT4021x2 in ORTF stereo on Zoom F4)
(Note: wind sound in background is heavy due to monsoon winds in June)

Night Soundscape
(Zoom H6 with XY stereo capsule)
(Note: wind sound in background is heavy due to monsoon winds in June)

Location 2 – Natural tall mountain forest. This site is rich with the sounds of a mix of endemic hill birds together with those of an occasional mammal. At night there is a variety of frog sounds depending on temperature and humidity levels. The forest reverberates with insect sounds, especially at night. The locations here are mostly free of man-made noises.

Morning Soundscapes
(Audio-technica AT4021x2 in ORTF stereo on Zoom F4)
(Note: wind sound in background is heavy due to monsoon winds in June)

Night Soundscape
(Zoom H6 with MS stereo capsule)

Rainforest
Sinharaja is the largest rainforest in the country, and the richest in biodiversity. It is very rich in the sounds of birds confined to rainforest as well as others distributed throughout wet-zone evergreen forests, and of mammals and insects. There is a variety of frog sounds at night depending on temperature and humidity levels and also moderately in the day time. The locations here are mostly free of man-made noises.

Dry zone wetlands
Dotted almost throughout dry lowlands are man-made reservoirs for irrigation, mostly ancient, popularly known as ‘tanks’. Of these, the vegetated tanks are rich in waterbirds. Tanks are situated close to human habitation in rural areas and are usually associated with seasonal human activity in varying degrees for agriculture. Our selected location is relatively quiet, although vehicle sound from a distant road may be present at varying levels of audibility, and in the early morning there is chanting from the temple in a nearby village.

Morning Soundscape
(Rode NT4 XY stereo on Zoom F4)

Morning Soundscape
(Rode NT4 XY stereo on Zoom F4)

Introductions to the locations, and the sound recordings: Deepal Warakagoda (Sri Lanka Nature Sounds, Bird & Wildlife Team).
Photos: Uditha Hettige and Gayan Cooray (Bird & Wildlife Team).