Sights and Sounds of Australia Part 1

Each season has its own features and aspects of life cycles in the ‘natural’ world. In this blog post, as in previous blog posts, namely, Sights and Sounds of Ireland, I’m going to share with you some recordings I’ve made. This time the sights and sounds are closer to home, they’re in my local ‘hood, the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Cicadas, Crickets and Corellas

Summer’s over for us Aussies and we’re now entering the cooler months. Some might say goodbye, good riddance to Summer. It’s too hot. But for many of us this last Summer has been relatively tame; less days over 40ºC than in other years. And for my worms that’s meant survival—in my worm farm, that is. On two occasions over the last five years I’ve had to clean out the putrefied, liquefied quagmire of worm remains from my farm following heatwaves, where the temp was over 40 for a few days in a row. This year, the cooler Summer has meant happy worms and, happy me.

Cicadas…

As I’ve hinted at in my blog name, I consider the sound of cicadas a quintessentially Australian sound even though cicadas are not endemic to Australia. They’re found worldwide. Maybe its the association they conjure up for me: balmy Summer evenings; too hot to do anything much except find the coolest spot and stay there. As a kid it conjures up memories of never-ending Summer holidays at the beach. Lying around on the cool floor of the beach house after a bath and fish and chips for tea as your skin turns beetroot.

I made the following recording of a chorus of cicadas as I heard them on a walk around my local streets one hot, balmy January evening.

See what memories they conjure up for you…

Crickets…

Now, we’re in Autumn. The screechy cicadas have gone.

In their place are the crickets. A much gentler chorus. At dusk one night in April, I recorded their dulcet tones as they set up their choir in my front yard.

Have a listen…

Certainly a much gentler sound for a much gentler season.

Corellas…

Now, these guys are raucous. They’ve been circling my neighbourhood in large flocks for the last couple of weeks. Many of them will descend on a tree, ravage the berries/seed pods and discard the remains out the side of their beaks like old codgers spitting into spittoons. This can make for hazardous walking, especially if the remains are strewn over the foot path.

Below is a recording I took of a flock that settled on a Cotoneaster just above my head as I was walking past. For a moment I felt like Tippi Hedren in Hitchcock’s The Birds as I instinctively placed my arms over my head and walked a little faster. But they weren’t interested in me, all they wanted was those delicious, bright red, juicy berries.

Have a look and a listen…

These recordings may not be quintessentially Australian but they certainly stir feelings of ‘home’ in me.

How about you?