This is John Neville’s eighth album, so it is fair to say that he is a seasoned ‘pro’ and now, Canada’s most prolific publisher of this genre. Like his previous ‘bird song’ releases, this album is devoted to a specific region, in this case the vast area known as the ‘Western Boreal Forest’.

I cannot pretend that I knew much about the forests of Western Canada, but I have done a little research for the benefit of our European readers, and to widen my purview.

The Boreal Forest is the New World equivalent of the Russian taiga, and is a very extensive geo-physical region extending over several Canadian Provinces. It is defined by the vegetation rather than political jurisdictions and is dominated by conifer forests and wetlands.

It is also known as the ‘Boreal Plain’, for the land has been scoured down to bedrock by glaciation. I mention this because low relief and poor drainage produce extensive wetland habitats and the region is endowed with an abundance of lakes, ponds and boggy ground known as ‘muskeg’.

It is common knowledge that they have ‘proper’ seasons in Canada and most of the bird-life retreats from the severe winters. However, every spring, when the weather becomes more agreeable, phenomenal numbers of migrant birds return from lower latitudes along the four North American Flyways.

Some of these Nearctic migrants are passing through and continue northwards to breeding grounds in the tundra. However, many passerines and other land-birds arriving on a ‘broad-front’, stay and nest in the region and the numbers involved are staggering. John’s introduction informs that the Boreal Forest is the breeding ground for 90% of the land-birds of North America; the cradle for 5 billion fledglings annually!

For the benefit of European readers, I can report that the avifauna has some affinities with Old World taxa. For example, the seed-eaters and the raptors mostly have related Eurasian counterparts, while conversely, the insectivorous Neotropical migrants such as the flycatchers and warblers are distinct, having no close relatives in the eastern hemisphere.

I soon cracked the code on the track-list and deduced that the recordings were made in May and June, mostly in the Provincial and National Parks of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In fact they are the fruits of two major recording expeditions in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

Incidentally, we published John’s account of his trip to Wood Buffalo National Park in the Spring 2003 Journal and just to remind you of the scale of things, Wood Buffalo is bigger than Switzerland!

This release is intended as a sound guide to the species and continues to use a successful format; every track being introduced with a ‘voice-over’.

John wrote and read the script himself, which is well-crafted and includes the location and a few identification ‘pointers’. The track lengths and balance between subject and commentary are about right. John’s diction is clear although his accent does not sound Canadian; probably because he hails from Somerset in England.

Personally, I like this approach and find it easier than following a printed play-list. It is all too easy to lose the place without the spoken reminders. After all, the album is billed as a sound guide and presumably will be used by complete beginners who will appreciate the announcements.

Listening to the tracks was a nostalgic pleasure, although I am a stranger to the region. The explanation of this paradox is that I am familiar with Catherine Thexton’s magnum opus presenting many of the same species. Incidentally, Catherine contributed two selections to the album; namely one of the Mourning Warblers and the Harris’ Sparrow.

I soon ‘got to grips with’ the species and there are many splendid recordings on offer. The album comprises 107 tracks spread over two discs, so obviously, I cannot relate the full story here. Of course, most of the tracks are devoted to birds, but the album includes a few of the region’s vocal amphibians and mammals.

Worthy of mention is an unusual sequence of an adolescent Black Bear foraging. It is a rare recording and I am informed that the sample has been used commercially in teddy bears for the toy market. WSRS members have heard it before as this recording was published in our Sound Magazine, dated Winter 2002 (SM 129, track 60).

As for the birds, there are many excellent recordings and sadly, I can only mention a few in the space available.

I warmed to the calls and drumming of the noisy Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, characteristic of the spring soundscape, as are the iconic, nocturnal calls of Common Loons (Gavia immer).

I know that the voice of the loon is the classic, quintessential northern soundscape but even so, the atmospheric ‘Moonlight Serenade’ recorded on a still night at Wascesiu Lake impressed me. I am not writing romantic prose and should not get melodramatic about territorial ‘song’, but there is a quality about the eerie wailing and yodelling that stirs the human spirit; very evocative!

The album features many splendid recordings and I am spoiled for choice when picking out tracks for a mention. Basically, they are all fully modulated and good quality audio.

Subjectively, I preferred Disc 2 because the species presented were in my frequency range. Not that I am disparaging Disc 1, but I am getting old and some of the flycatchers and warblers have high-frequency voices. The real problem is that, I was ‘born too soon’.

I liked the Sora (rails) at Lindbergh Landing, the Peregrine being mobbed by Common Terns, the Cooper’s Hawk responding to a Great Horned Owl and the American Tree Sparrow singing against the rumble of thunder.

All these tracks feature interactions and interesting backgrounds and evidently, would have been nice in stereo. This is my only gripe but I concede that it is impractical to carry an unwieldy microphone rig when working alone and wading through the muskeg.

Fellow recordists will be interested to learn that John used two microphones; namely a directional Sennheiser 416 and a Telinga Pro-5 in the reflector. His portable field monitor was a Marantz PDM 650 MiniDisc recorder and post-production, he was assisted by Bart Gurt, who is a sound engineer.

The album comprises over a hundred tracks spread over two discs and the audio is twin-track mono format. A few of the selections were contributed by guest recordists, including WSRS member Catherine Thexton, as already mentioned.

This album is a yet another success and has already received favourable reviews from Canadian commentators. I add my congratulations to the well-deserved accolades.

Any naturalist visiting Western Canada would do well to check out the web-site. The sound guides will appeal to all birders, both budding beginners and experienced ornithologists alike. Clearly John has found his calling in life and enjoys what he is doing. He is evidently ‘at the top of his game’.

Looking ahead, I have spotted a pattern. Every spring John goes on a recording expedition and every winter he publishes a new CD. Happily, there are no imminent bottlenecks in the supply chain and last year, John’s annual expedition took him along the Dempster Highway to Inuvik at 68º North on the Mackenzie Delta.

We published his account of this trip in the previous issue and I already have the resultant album for review. It will be a pleasure! - Ed.