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/]

  • American Coot various pops and calls

    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 Derivativ

  • American Coot, Redhead, and Green-winged Teal

    Audio copyright Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • American Crow caws

    Audio file copyright 2014, Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • American Elk

    Audio file courtesy of the National Park Service.

  • American Elk and American Robin

    Audio copyright Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • American Elk and American Robin (0001463)

    Audio copyright Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • American Elk at Grand Teton National Park

    Audio file copyright Kevin Colver, 2009. All rights reserved

  • American Elk bugles in northern Utah

    Audio file copyright 2009, 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.

  • American Elk bugling, Wind Cave National Park

    Audio file courtesy of the National Park Service.

  • American Elk in northern Utah

    Audio file copyright 2009, 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.

  • American Elk, Grand Canyon National Park

    Audio file courtesy of the National Park Service.

  • American Goldfinch calls

    Audio file copyright 2014, Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • American Goldfinch song, calls

    Audio file copyright 2014, Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • American Kestrel calls

    Audio file copyright 2014, Kevin Colver. All rights reserved

  • American Pipit calls

    Audio file copyright 2014, Kevin Colver. All rights reserved