Cape York:
Savanna Woodland

The sounds of birds and wildlife waking to a
new day in a remote savanna woodland.

Recording Location: Cape York, Australia
Habitat: Dry tropical woodland
Duration: 66 minutes (4 tracks)
Year of Release: 2019 © All rights reserved
Download Formats: mp3 & FLAC (48kHZ/24bit)

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Album Description

Recorded in the remote savanna woodlands of Cape York Peninsula, this album captures the sounds of birds and wildlife waking to a new day. These dry tropical woodlands dominate much of this part of Australia and are characterized by a grassy understory along with an abundance of terrestrial termite mounds. A wide variety of finches, honeyeaters and parrots (including the endangered Golden-shouldered Parrot) thrive in this habitat and in the early mornings especially, the woodland is alive with bird activity.

Listen to a Sample

Recording Location

Map © OpenStreetMap contributors

Track Listing

1. First Light (5:28)

Just before dawn in the savanna woodland, katydids and crickets call from the grassy understorey. A few small marsupials can be heard sofly scratching about while a Tawny Frogmouth makes rhythmic ooms and a drumming call. Blue-winged Kookaburras can be heard in the background with their raucous cackling laughter and a couple of sweet melodic phrases from a Pied Butcherbird ring out in the dim light. Within a few minutes the dawn chorus begins…

2. Dawn Chorus (6:15)

As the light brightens the bird activity intensifies – Blue-faced Honeyeaters, Yellow Honeyeaters, Little Friarbirds and Rainbow Lorikeets call from the crowns of the eucalyptus trees. The ubiquitous Bar-shouldered and Peaceful Doves coo rhythmically and toward the end of the track a Pheasant Coucal hoots in the distance. Both Black-backed & Pied Butcherbirds sing to proclaim their territory while Rainbow Bee-eaters fly overhead, hawking for insects. If you listen closely you can occasionally hear the deep grunting coughs of Agile Wallabies.

3. Black-backed Butcherbirds (14:43)

The fluty yodelling of a family of Black-backed Butcherbirds fills the morning air, along with the calls of Little Friarbird, Spangled Drongo, Grey-crowned Babbler, White-throated Gerygone, Rainbow Lorikeet, Magpie Lark, Peaceful & Bar-shouldered Doves and many other bird species.

4. By the Dry Creekbed (40:05)

This track was recorded in savanna woodland adjacent to a dry creekbed, a few kilometres from the recording location of the preceding three tracks. Lining this creek was a narrow band of lush vegetation and on the sandy creek bed itself a few small puddles of water remained. These natural corridors are used by many species as shady havens in the hot landscape and important water sources, especially in the dry season. In this track both Brown & Yellow Honeyeaters sing from the trees along the creek while many of the woodland birds can be heard from the drier habitat either side of the creek. From 28:22 a male Golden-shouldered Parrot sings for about a minute from a high perch in a eucalyptus tree.

Bird species heard on this album include:

Bar-shouldered Dove, Peaceful Dove, Galah, Rainbow Lorikeet, Red-winged Parrot, Golden-shouldered Parrot, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Laughing Kookaburra, Forest Kingfisher, Rainbow Bee-eater, Pheasant Coucal, Tawny Frogmouth, Little Friarbird, Brown Honeyeater, Yellow Honeyeater, Rufous-banded Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Leaden Flycatcher, Grey-crowned Babbler, White-throated Gerygone, Large-billed Gerygone, Striated Pardalote, White-bellied Cuckooshrike, Spangled Drongo, Great Bowerbird, Pied Butcherbird, Black-backed Butcherbird and Torresian Crow.

Cape York:
Savanna Woodland