The mournful sounds of Arctic divers, also known as Black-throated loons (Gavia arctica) echo around a lake in Sweden.
Loons (or divers) are fascinating birds. There are five extant species and their range covers the upper reaches of the Northern hemisphere, although they do migrate south in winter. Arctic loons prefer to hang out around deep and remote freshwater lakes for the breeding season, which is where I found them in Sweden in 2017.
On this expedition we spent considerable time looking for Black-throated divers and trying to record their sounds. They don't call very often, especially the yodel phrase that is so dramatic. I was recording for more than a week in several spots and only managed to capture these 3 series of vocalisations, plus a handful of croaking sounds.
These few calls I managed to record are perfect examples though. They weren't captured too close to the subjects, which allowed the acoustics of the lake and its forested edge to add a substantial amount of reflections. This recording was captured at 2am, before dawn chorus starts even this far north, so there wasn't a cacophony of birdsong to mask the loon calls. You can also hear the gentle lapping of waves on the edge of the lake, which grounds the recording and anchors it in a very specific geography.
The sounds of loons (most notably the Common species, but Black-throated as well) are often employed and over-used in popular media to convey tension, mystery, remoteness, wilderness, the great outdoors etc. These sounds are mostly used in places where the birds would naturally not exist. As an example, in the last episode of True Detective seasons 1 (which is an excellent piece of television and much better than the following seasons by far), the call of a Black-throated loon is heard as one of the main character enters a derelict building where the final showdown is set to happen. Totally not accurate geographically and ecologically, but the sound itself fits the atmosphere perfectly. It's also noteworthy that the sound editor or designer did not go for the more over-used sound of the Common loon.
Recorded in Central Sweden with Sound Devices 633 and Sennheiser DMS rig. Enjoying the videos I upload on here? Please consider supporting me by:
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28 сен 2024
