Whispers over the Water; The Tyresta Files #3

Sweden is world famous for its stunning vista of remote freshwater lakes, lined with coniferous forest. Happily, this scene is still very much a reality in the modern day. At Tyresta National Park, a stones throw from Stockholm City, lie a number of freshwater lakes and in the spring of 2024, I was drawn to them once again. Having undertaken a major field recording project at the park, I wanted to uncover the secrets of the lakes within the park. I was very much focused on field recording of one of Sweden's most iconic sounds, the breeding display of Black-throated Diver. This endeavour proved not to be as simple as I had anticipated, but there were some wonderful moments along the way, as I tried to get to grips with my target species. Did I succeed in the end? Join me in this episode of Wild Bird Acoustics in order to find out...

Transcript

 You are all very welcome to Wild Bird Acoustics. I'm your host, Alan Dalton, and I'll be taking you on a journey into sound.

  

Now welcome everybody to another episode here at Wild Bird Acoustics, and in this episode of the podcast, whispers Over the Water, I'm gonna take you on a journey into a very special Habitat within Tears National Park at the northern section of the Reserve

now in this, the most northern part of tears to the national forest lie three crystalline lakes, and they're nestled among old knotted growth pines and silver spruces,

and some of 'em are over 400 years old, like guardians of a forester feels untouched by time. And these lakes are absolutely incredible  📍 places to watch birds, as are the woodlands that surround them. Now there's three lakes that lie in close proximity to each other. Inside my study area at Tier, the National Park, long Quan Floating and Albi Quan, and these were the habitats that I wanted to take a deep dive into this spring.

Now I am very familiar with all three lakes, but for the purposes of the project, I decided to concentrate on flatten. And the reason for that is there's not too many residential areas near this lake and it's reasonably quiet as a result, particularly early in the morning, the best time to do a bit of field recording here

now the other two lake do have residential properties quite close to them as on the borders of the park. And this leads to a little bit of noise, which I just wanted to avoid completely. And flatten is where I spent the most time over the course of April, as a result, often actively recording. And quite often leaving down passive recorders.

And it was very much in search of one species, black throated diver, a wonderful species that is resident in the park, and all three lakes have resident pears. So through April, I spent most of my time around Lake Floden, just watching black throwed divers actively,

and as a result of this, I came into contact with a lot of other species and I got some lovely audio in this episode, we'll trace the shoreline of these lakes, eavesdrop into the bird zone there, and uncover what makes tears' watery world so magical.

So let's lean in, breathe deep, and delve into the tears to files. Once again,

Now the recording you heard at the start of this episode was the sound of ice beginning to break up. It was recorded with a pair of stereo hydrophones and that morning saw me sitting quietly at dawn just watching the scene. As the ice broke up, I made a recording of it and I knew the pretty soon birds would be returning to these wonderful, wonderful lakes.

So I thought I'd just start with that recording.

Now on that morning, I had the Ling a problem with me, and I got this wonderful recording of some Hoffins right beside the lake, just in the shores of the lake, near some suburban gardens. It's a wonderful recording. The main species here is the Cals and Song of Hoffen in the background as other species such as nut hatch, Raven, Blackbird, and others have a listen to this.

This is Hoffen.

  

Now  📍 woodland species abound around the lake. Um, one of these is great spotted woodpecker. Early springing was a wonderful time to be in the forest, and I got plenty of recordings of drumming. Great spotted woodpecker in the background here you can also hear cold hit and song trilling ran half inch. The calls of bo inch and an alarming blackbird amongst other sounds.

But the main focus of this recording is a wonderful drumming, great spot at Woodpecker. A typical soundscape at this site. Have a listen. I.

  📍  

Now, the first few mornings I spent in the park around flatting, I was waiting for a black throated diver to arrive. And early in April, sure enough, the male turned the first. And on that particular morning I spent a lot of time watching the bird. It was completely silent, and I decided to wait another few days returning again the following Saturday, and the female at that point had returned.

So I was quite happy. Now, there was a pair on the lake and I began to think about where to leave a passive recorder. Now, this species, I thought would be very, very easy with passive recorders. I thought I could just leave one down, and that proved not to be the case. It proved a lot more difficult and a lot less vocal than I thought.

And initially I left my recorder down on the southeast corner of the lake after watching the birds spending a lot of time in the area, often the female was prospecting and decided to speak good place to start. So I left the recorder down for a week

and what I'm gonna do is run through some of the recordings I got from the first deployment. It was a mixed bag ready, and the birds proved to be very, very elusive. Now the first recording I have for you is very, very subtle, and it's the contact calls from a female black Florida diver, as she respects the leg margins for a nesting site, just a very, very quiet call.

Have a listen to this.

  Hey.

Now also from that early deployment, I got some examples of what is known as the diving call. Not great recordings, a little bit distant, but I'll give you one of these now. This is the diving call of Black Throated Diver.

  📍  

Now another call type I got as well with the Tinga plo. While I was watching the birds on this particular morning, there was five birds present and they were giving this snorkeling call. It's quite similar actually to Goose Sander,

This is a call they often give when in small groups they were a little bit distant things were very, very tough in the beginning, and I do recommend you wear headphones.

This is the snorkeling call of a black throated diver.

 You  know,  I  can't  remember.  I  don't

know.  I  don't  know.  I

don't  know. 📍 

Now, of course, what I was really after was the display of the species. I was quite surprised when I collected the first week's audio from the passive recorder and SM Mini. I expected to be lots and lots of audio. That wasn't the case.

I only picked one example of the display of the species in the entire week, which amazed me really considering there was a pair present on the lake. But I'll play that for you now. It's a little bit distant. This is the initial recording of the display of Black Throated Diver at the lake floating.

  

 📍  

 Now things were much tougher than I expected with black Florida diver, but because I was present at the lake early in the mornings, quite often at dawn for so many mornings, I picked up for some wonderful audio, actively recording as I went round.

I'm gonna play a lovely recording now of the calls of a cold hit I came across one morning on these sides of the lake, a peculiar high call I hadn't actually recorded before. This is cold hit at Lake Flooding.

  

 📍  

 I was delighted to get that recording. It's always nice to get recording a new call of a common species. And of course, whilst it was passively recording, I did pick up other birds.

Case in point, common scooter migrating Overland on the 6th of April over the lake. A short recording here of Nocturnal passage of common scouter. I'm not really a surprised. They're well known to actually migrate Overland, but it was very, very nice to catch them just migrating over.

Lake Flatten. Have a listen.

  📍  

Now another bit of auditory bycatch and a nice species to pick up passively recording the SM when he picked up these recordings of a dipper. A nice recording of the calls of the species. There's a pair close by on a small bit of stream, and the birds were actually moving up to the margins of the lake at some points, and I got this nice recording of the calls of.

White throated Dipper early on the morning of the 6th of April, 2025.   📍 

 

Another common species. Next, it's Eurasian nut hu. Very, very common around the margins of the lake. Again, picked up with the SI mini recorder. This one on the 8th of April, 2025. I.

  

 

 📍 Now we're gonna stay on Eurasian nut Hatch for just a moment. A longer recording here. A wonderful recording of the high calls of the species in the background as a second board giving the regular display. Listen also for a tree creeper, the high calls of the species in the background as well as WR Raven.

Great tit and singing wood pigeon. A very nice recording this. This is Ian Atch at Ton on the 11th of April, 2025. I.

  

 📍  

Now it was fantastic just to move around the lake on these mornings and on one particular morning, on the 12th of April, I came across this Eurasian Siskin, just giving some song. I grabbed a quick recording with the lingo. Pbla

now annoyingly the B of A field recorder's life. A plane going over in the background, but the word was so close, it's actually not a bad recording, so I thought I would include this. This is Eurasian system.

  

 📍  

Now whilst I'd struck out with Black Throated diver on that first deployment of the SM Mini, there's always a chance you're gonna pick something interesting up when you have a recorded down for an entire week. And that proved to be the case. I got this absolutely wonderful recording of a male goose under.

Now this recording is obviously at extreme close quarters. The board was very, very close to the recorder. You can actually hear it breathing at one point, so it's quite a special recording. This is common Ganzer or goose under as it's more widely known.

A wonderful recording of these species right beside my recorder on Lake Flatten on the 12th of April, 2025.

  

 

 📍  

Now, one of the nicest facets of recording possibly is the things you pick up at night. The things you didn't know were going on at the site, and one of these turned out to be Moreen. They were very, very regular over the lake. I think they were probably passing overhead, just displaying probably resident at a nearby wetland.

About a kilometer away. But it was very nice to get some nice recordings of these species. Not a very regular species here in Sweden, and as I say, very, very nice to pick up some nice recordings of common Mohan in the dead of night. Hover Lake Flatten. This came on the 7th of April. This is probably one of the better recordings I got. I'll play that for you now.  

 

 📍  



Now folks, right through April. I continually returned to Lake Ton just before Dawn on most occasions, and watched black throated divers at incredibly close range. I spent a lot of time watching these birds and their behavior was quite incredible to watch. Now, although I didn't get very many recordings actively, it was the time I spent with the birds that really gave me,

an insight into these words, and that is something I would've never experienced unless it was out sound recording I like my experiences with Black Woodpecker at the same site.

Over the course of the spring, I really became very, very attached to black TRO divers. They're very, very social, very, very nuanced, and it was incredible to watch their behavior. Now, quite often there were several birds present on the lake. Um, what I eventually realized was happening was birds were actually visiting each other on the lake, and I figured these were likely siblings, probably parents and siblings. And it's well documented that these birds actually form very, very close family ties and often breed on adjacent lakes in areas such as this.

Now, before the ice actually breaks up in tears that these birds will gather in an area called Avi. Just to the east of the park, quite often up to 20 birds present and as soon as the ice breaks up, they get onto the lakes, but it doesn't stop the, from actually just popping in to actually visit each other.

And it was an absolute pleasure to sit and watch these birds over the course of spring 2025. Now, of course, I was there to record them and none of this time was wasted. I got a very good idea eventually as to where the local pair were thinking about putting their nest, and eventually I got a recorder into the general area and just left it down for a number of weeks.

It was exciting to go back and pick up the recordings, and of course while it was in the area, I got some wonderful recordings with the pbla of various other species.



Now one of those species I just mentioned, it's Black woodpecker. I'm gonna give you a very quick recording now. A burst of Black Woodpecker display. Have a listen to this folks.

This is the song of Black Woodpecker.

  

Now I had several wonderful experiences with Black Woodpecker around Lake Flatten over the course of April. And on this particular occasion, I came across a group of four adult birds and they're just moving around, giving excitement calls. Got a nice recording. Gonna play it for you. Now, this is four black woodpeckers together, quite an unusual occasion, and it led to a wonderful bit of audio.

Have a listen to this, folks. I.

  

 📍 Now we're gonna get back to passive recording. And like I say, I got the SM Minis back out for a number of weeks over the far side of the lake, and I got a lot of audio of Goose under. Now I have a stack of audio. I'm not gonna play it all for you. I just picked out a couple of particularly nice recordings.

The first recording here is a mail bird flying in, landing out the water, and giving some close range calls. Once again, this is male goose hunter.

  

 

 📍 Now the display of Go Sander is a wonderful sound. I got lots of recordings of it. I, I'll play a nice bit of audio now of that display. In the background here it is blue tit robin nut Hatch, goldcrest, and various other species early in the morning. But the main subject here is a displaying goose under wonderful recording.

And I'm gonna play that for you now. Enjoy this.

  I don't, I don't, I, I.

Cool. Cool,

cool.

Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool. Cool.

Cool. Cool, cool.

Uh,

cool. Cool. Up, up,

up. 📍 

Now you just never know what you're gonna get when you passively record. And I had the recorder down quite close to a group of small rocks that just jutted out of the water. And when I was going through the audio, I just noticed this spectrogram straight away. I knew the bird was very, very close, and when I played the recording, it was what I thought it might be, and that was a hering goal, giving some wonderful long calls at extremely.

Close range. This is a beautiful recording. There's a lovely backdrop here. It's the Don Chorus around floating and it really makes the recording for me,

but of course the main subject here is the extremely close, long calling herring goal.

  Wow. 📍 

Another nice recording for you now at this time. Indeed, dead of night. It's raining. You can hear the rain on the lake surface and in the background is mattered and an overlying common moen. Once again, just giving a little bit of call as it flies over the lake in the dead of night. This is common more.

  

 📍  

Now another northern species I suppose, and one I will never turn of. It's hooper swan on this occasion, a pair flying past the recorder. It's an incredible sound

this is a wonderful recording of Hooper Spa going past my SM mini recorder at Lake Flo.

  

 📍  

Now Hooper Swan is quite common. Interiors to National Park, several pairs dotted around the area, breeding of various wetlands and several birds. Were visiting the lake early in the mornings. I have another recording, one of several, but I'll play this one for you now. Once again, I've got a ton of audio of the species.

Very, very nice to collect that. But another recording quickly of Hooper Swan at Lake Lawton. This from the 16th of April, 2025.

  📍  

Now I'm gonna return to the main target species. I was after black throated diver. And on the third deployment I got some wonderful audio. I'm gonna share that with you now. This first recording, I finally got the display on the 22nd of April, and you're gonna hear a couple of bouts of a displaying board.

Not terribly close to the recorder, but still very, very clear. And then after that, some plaintiff calls from black throated diver. This came just after midnight. And in the background you can hear Knight singing Robin Hand Song Thrush, which had returned to the reserve at that point.

We'll play it for you now. This is Black Throw Diver.

  

 

 📍 It. It's such a wonderful noise, such an ethereal sound, and I just love, love that display. On the very next night, I again got a similar recording and in the background here you can hear Distant Birds on a faraway lake on Albi corn, and. As often happens in the park, as soon as these birds begin to call on distant lakes, it's answered by a bird on a close by lake.

So what you're gonna hear again is the display of black throated diver answering birds on a faraway lake again, followed by the plaintiff calls of the species in the background of some Canada GOs here, noisy buggers, but it doesn't take away from the recording. Once again, this is displaying black throated diver.

  📍  

Another recording now of displaying black throated diver. Late April was fantastic. I got several good recordings of the species. Again, it's birds answering calls from distant birds on nearby lakes. Once again, the display of black throated diver.

  📍  

Another wonderful recording. Now, at this time on the 30th of April, only this time early in the morning, there's some Hoopers swans here and a Don Chorus in the background. But again, a lovely bout of display of black photo diver, three calls, and it's wonderful. Quite close to the recorder.

  📍  

 Now happily, it wasn't just the display I got of these birds. And in the next recording I'm gonna hear a nice close recording of the diving call. You can hear the birds just moving around and diving under the water. And on the second occasion, a very clear example of the diving call of Black Throat Diver.

Have a listen.

  

 📍 Now, every now and then as a field recorder, you get a very special recording and I think this is the case with the next recording. It's quite special. I think it's quite unique and. It is just a little bit unusual. It's incredibly intimate, and what you're gonna hear in this recording is a female black throated diver nest respecting.

She is incredibly close to the recorder. You can hear her just moving around, just water dripping off her bill. She's poking around in the tussock of grass where I had hidden the recorder. She has no idea the recorder is there, and what was quite special about this is. I was actually watching this from the far side of the lake.

I knew she was right on top of my recorder. I made a note of the date and time, and when I checked the audio, I was absolutely flabbergasted and completely delighted with this recording. It just made all of the errors sitting out, watching these birds, trying to record these birds.

All of the effort putting the recorders down worth every moment, and. It's very, very special when you get a result like this. This is a wonderful recording, quiet calls from a female black throated diver nest respecting, like I say, quite an unusual recording. I'm just gonna play it for you now. It's quite wonderful and I think it's a fitting way to wrap up this sound magazine.

  Hm.

Hm. Hm, hm.

Hm. Hm,

Hm, Hm,

hm. 📍 

So there you go. That's the tiers, the files from Lake Flatten. I really do hope you have enjoyed this sound magazine, this episode, and it's been quite wonderful to bring you this audio. It was very, very special to actually get the results I did after putting so much time in trying to get some audio of Black Throat Diver and of course all of the other species I bumped into and recorded along the way.

It's always nice when you put the effort in to get the results, and I hope it just encourages a few of you guys out there to do a little bit of a project for yourself. Just pick an area and just keep at it and keep at it until you get the results you are looking for. I've been trying to record Black Throated Diver for several years now,

so this spring was quite special for me and it was wonderful to actually secure the audio that you've just heard in this episode. That's all for me, Alan Dalton here at Wild Bird Acoustics. As always, folks, thanks for listening and I hope you have enjoyed this sound magazine here at Wild Bird Acoustics.

 So that brings us to the end of another episode of Wild Bird Acoustics, and I hope you've enjoyed it. As always, you can find us on YouTube by simply searching for wild bird acoustics. We do have a mailing list also, and if you want to be part of that folks, you can drop us an email at Wild Bird acoustics@gmail.com.

Now all feedback is greatly received here at the podcast. And if you'd like to write review of the podcast, you can do so at the buzzsprout header page. In addition, if you'd like to make a small financial donation to the podcast, you can do so using the buy me a Coffee button, and you'll find that also on the Buzzsprout header page.

We will be back in a couple of weeks with more from wild bird acoustics. Until then, take it easy, folks, and as always, don't be afraid to get out into the field and relax and just listen to the wildlife out there. Maybe even do a little bit of field recording of your own. We'll talk to you soon, folks.

Take it easy. That's all from Wild Bird Acoustics.