by Steve Moon
LS_70274 long term audio project – August 19, 2018
This sound file represents the first of nine nights recorded at my long term study area in August of 2018. The file was chosen for analysis based on the weather history for the site. Recording conditions were very good until rain set in at around 2 am.
The first three hours of recording, from 10 pm to 1 am, were active. Double knocks and single knocks were recorded in both channels, with activity predominantly in the right channel. Wood knocks became very distant between 1 am and 1:15 am. After these distant knocks there is no other observed activity. By 2 am it began raining, and shortly after 3 am it began raining in earnest. No further activity was detected after about 1:15 am.
My interpretation of the pattern of wood knocking observed on this night is that Sasquatch were in the immediate vicinity of the audio recorder from 10 pm, and probably earlier, to about 1 am. From about 12 am to 1 am distant knocks are observed mixed in with knocks from closer proximity. For about fifteen minutes beginning at around 1 am, the Sasquatch are observed to have moved some distance away, with several knocks heard in the distance, and no knocks heard from close proximity. One possible interpretation of the activity observed is that the Sasquatch slowly drifted off to seek shelter from the rain that was moving in.
In the audio recording of June 5th, analyzed and reported on previously, the primary direction where activity was taking place was the same as in this recording; in the right channel. Unlike this recording, the June 5th recording captured numerous vocalizations. In this recording there is one distant vocalization, just as activity was wrapping up and the Sasquatch move away. The fact that this is only the second sound file that I’ve analyzed for this project, and both indicate a fair amount of activity, is truly amazing to me. I can only imagine how rich the entire data set will be once all files are analyzed and signals coded.
Five months of data have been successfully recorded, and yes, analysis is very slowly getting under way. I will post an analysis of an October file next. In about one week I’ll be setting the recorder out for the November sampling. Sampling for this audio survey is scheduled to end with May of 2020. That’s a lot of data, and it’s going to be really exciting to analyze. I’m optimistic that we will learn a few things about the behavior of the local Sasquatch population, and the specie in general here in North America.
I had assumed that runoff from torrential rains had moved the audio recorder from its original position, behind the tree in the upper left of this photo. It was moved about ten feet downslope. That’s before I heard this recording, which captures a rodent of some sort messing with the recorder box not once, but three times. Either explanation is plausible. I’ve had plenty of recorders messed with. Before I used enclosed units I had the microphone cables outside of the recorder box, which was a metal ammo can, and rodents would chew on the cables. I used liquid tape to mend the cables between deployments. The enclosed deployment boxes are a major improvement.
Recording transcript:
00.22.09 double knock right channel one second apart, followed by a third knock in the left channel
00.51.38 knock right channel
01.08.30 quiet knock left channel
01.17.01 double knock right channel
01.17.11 series of three knocks right channel (the third knock is at 2.8 seconds in the video)
01.27.18 knock left channel
01.54.59 quiet knock left channel
01.56.23 distant knock right channel
02.45.01 very faint knock right channel
02.55.38 knock right channel
02.57.16 knock left channel
03.10.00 very distant knock followed by distant vocalization right channel
03.10.07 extremely distant knock
03.14.58 animal tampers with recorder possibly knocking it over – sound continues normally
04.00.00 it begins raining
04.32.44 recorder is tampered with a second time – sound continues normally
04.35.50 recorder is moved a third time – sound continues normally
05.10.00 rain and wind increase to downpour
05.59.59 end file