Grasslands Collection

THE SOUNDS OF THE PRAIRIE

About our collection.

To the east of Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front lies the High Plains Ecosystem. This area includes some of the world’s largest remaining stretches of intact grasslands. Thousands of migratory birds flock here and their calls at first light create the prairie’s distinctive dawn chorus. Where they exist, such tallgrass prairies are rich in wildlife, but only 1% of these grasslands are still found in the United States (link to: https://www.nps.gov/tapr/learn/nature/a-complex-prairie-ecosystem.htm), making them among the most endangered ecosystems in the world. In 2017, the Acoustic Atlas began documenting the sounds of Montana's prairies through a collaboration with the American Prairie Reserve. Each spring and summer we visit the Reserve to make recordings of species and soundscapes that we place in our online collection. You can search these recordings by species or simply browse the site. Explore the sounds of the prairie. [Link to the sounds] Related: Find out about the sounds of Montana’s four major ecosystems in a story map we co-created with ESRI Story Maps [link to: https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2018/sounds-of-the-wild-west/]

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  • A dawn chorus at the American Prairie Reserve (170519)

    Audio file copyright Jeff Rice and Montana State University; Use of this audio file is allowed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd47

  • A dawn chorus near a pond on the American Prairie Reserve (170521)

    Audio file copyright Jeff Rice and Montana State University; Use of this audio file is allowed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd57

  • A dawn chorus of birds on the American Prairie Reserve (170519)

    Audio file copyright Jeff Rice and Montana State University; Use of this audio file is allowed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd57

  • A grassland dawn chorus 1

    Audio file copyright Jeff Rice and Montana State University; Use of this audio file is allowed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd55

  • A grassland dawn chorus 2

    Audio file copyright Jeff Rice and Montana State University; Use of this audio file is allowed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd56

  • A great horned owl near a cottonwood grove

    Audio file copyright Jeff Rice and Montana State University; Use of this audio file is allowed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd60

  • A soundscape of meadowlarks

    Audio file copyright Jeff Rice and Montana State University; Use of this audio file is allowed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd82

  • A soundscape of meadowlarks (excerpt)

    Audio file copyright Jeff Rice and Montana State University; Use of this audio file is allowed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd81

  • Alder Flycatcher calls

    Audio file copyright 2014, Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • Alder flycatchers at Yukon River (Alaska)

    Audio file courtesy of the National Park Service.

  • American Avocet calls

    Audio file copyright 2014, Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • American Bittern calls

    Audio file copyright 2014, Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • American Bittern, Yellow-headed Blackbird, and Common Yellowthroat

    Audio copyright Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • American Coot calls

    Audio file copyright 2014, Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • American Coot pops

    Audio file copyright 2010, the Western Soundscape Archive at the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library. Use of this audio file is allowed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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