BTS#12: Recording Nature Sounds In The Hamilton Cove Preserve
Join me behind the scenes on my latest field recording expedition to Maine, USA.
To celebrate the Summer Solstice, my partner and I ventured to the Hamilton Cove Preserve on the coast of Maine.
We chose this location because it is in the furthest eastern town of the entire United States, so we would be some of the first US citizens to watch the sunrise on this special day.
Besides watching the Solstice sunrise, I spent many hours recording the natural sounds from this area.
Table of Contents:
Location
The Hamilton Cove Preserve is located on the furthest eastern coast of Maine.
Just south of the popular Quoddy Head State Park, the Hamilton Cove is an unknown gem featuring rich forests, rocky cliffs, colorful tide pools, and crashing waves.
The preserve is 1,225 acres and features a diverse array of habitats, 25 unique types of plant communities to be exact.
Highlights include an unusually high number of bogs, fens, and other wetlands, not commonly found so close to the coast in Maine.
The landscape also features an extensive alder community, only found in coastal Maine and Alaska.
Other habitats include grasslands, maritime spruce forests, stands of mountain ash that provide essential fruit for migrating birds and native mammals.
Beavers are also present here and call Hamilton Brook their home.
The rocky barrens are important nesting sites for bird species like Lincoln’s sparrow and palm warbler while the nearby meadows attract ducks, bitterns, woodcock, and flycatchers.
Mammals that can be found in the preserve include black bear, moose, fox, coyote, snowshoe hare, and bobcat.
Whales and harbor seals can even be found offshore!
Video
The full Behind The Sounds (BTS) video for this trip is available to all supporters on Patreon.
The BTS series is a resource for learning field recording techniques, advice, methodology, and gear selection and set up.
Each episode covers one recording expedition.
It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to film these informative videos in the field and edit them in post production.
To watch this Behind The Sounds episode and the full series to date, consider becoming a Patreon. If you do, you’ll also receive my Field Recording For Beginners eBook and the opportunity to Zoom with me to ask questions, nerd out on gear, or receive critiques on your work.
Photos
Click on an image for a larger version.
Sounds
As this was my first coastal field recording expedition, this was my first experience with marine traffic.
With large ports in the nearby Eastport and Grand Manan island, recording during the day was very difficult.
Most of my recordings were spoiled by the humming of recreational and commercial boats from sunrise to sunset.
Having said that, I did manage to gather some short noise pollution free recordings during the day, but the two longest captures were during late evening and at night.
Track Descriptions
The track titled “Ocean Waves At Night” is a binaural night seascape capturing the tides lapping at boulders below the microphone. I say below because I had my mics setup on the edge of a small cliff, approximately 25’ tall.
I must say, I was quite worried about winds blowing my drop rig off the cliff and into the waters below, but my heavy, Lewitt 540 SubZeros and heavier aluminum tripod were rock solid.
Drop rig at “Thunder Hole”
“Thunder Hole” is a reference to the natural wonder of Thunder Hole in Acadia National Park, however the thunder hole here at Hamilton is much more grand.
Towering cliffs look down upon a thin inlet of ocean. The rising tides flood into this area dragging large stones and the waves make a huge boom as they collide with the massive rock face of the cliffs.
I captured this sound from the edge of the cliffs with a drop rig recording, and again, I was worried about an animal knocking my gear down into the ravine. Sometimes you just have to risk it!
Location of “Hidden Beach” and “The Fork” recordings.
“Hidden Beach” is a recording of waves breaking over large boulders captured at a distance of about 20’.
I titled it as such because the beach was not reachable by trail. Instead, a steep rock scramble was required to reach the cobble beach, followed by slippery footing on bladderwrack seaweed covered rocks to reach the waves at low tide.
This is the same location of “The Fork” but is much closer to the tidal action.
It’s called “The Fork” because I positioned my microphones right where the incoming waves were divided left and right by a large boulder.
I really enjoy the hissing sound of thousands of tiny bubbles popping after a wave breaks right in front of the microphone.
“The Bench” was one of the first locations I fell in love with at the Hamilton Cove Preserve.
Final Thoughts
Despite the amount of marine traffic faced on this trip, it still yielded some great, noise pollution free sounds, and was an absolute joy to explore the Hamilton Cove.
I’d like to return later in the year to capture more of the diverse habitats the Hamilton Cove has to offer, however, I think spring and summer are the only seasons worth going due to noise pollution.
Reason being, during spring and summer, the sunrise is generally a couple hours before morning rush hour traffic, which is when the boats became active. During the fall and winter, sunrise occurs too close to when people are active to make recording viable.
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Thanks for reading,
-Jared
