Winter in Guanwu Forest, January 2024

Guanwu National Forest Recreation Area, Hsinchu County, January 2022

I’ve only been to the Guanwu Forest Recreation Area in Hsinchu twice.

To get straight to the point, I don’t think this location is suitable for nature recording. I’m not saying that Guanwu Forest is unnatural—on the contrary, it is dense and pristine, a great place to enjoy the wilderness. However, from the perspective of natural sound, it can be frustrating because of the frequent airplane engine noise. Perhaps this airspace is along the flight path for takeoffs and landings at Taoyuan Airport. When I listen to my recordings, I often hear animals at night making alarm calls in response to the noise of passing airplanes.

This recording is part of the winter dawn chorus in the Guanwu Forest. In addition to songbirds, you can hear the drumming of woodpeckers. The dog-like calls in the background come from the Formosan Reeve's muntjac. In forest recordings from Taiwan, the Formosan Reeve's muntjac is the most commonly heard mammal and one of the signature elements of Taiwan’s forest soundscape.

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2024年1月觀霧森林

新竹觀霧森林遊樂區我只去過2次

先說結論，我認為這裡並不適合自然錄音。我不是要說觀霧森林是個不自然的地方，相反地，這裡森林茂密且原始，是享受大自然的好去處。但從自然聲音角度來看卻是令人沮喪的，原因就在於頻繁的飛機引擎噪音，或許是桃園機場起降的飛機都會經過這段空域，我在聽自己的錄音時，時常聽到夜裡動物因為飛機駛過的噪音而發出警戒的叫聲。

這段錄音是冬季觀霧森林清晨Dawn Chorus的一部分，除了鳴鳥外，還有啄木鳥敲擊樹幹的聲音，背景中聽到像狗叫的聲音是來自於臺灣山羌，在臺灣的森林中錄音中，山羌是最常聽到的哺乳類動物，也是臺灣森林音景的特色之一。