You can get a good sense of the American West by reading authors as diverse as Sherman Alexie, Mark Twain, John McPhee, but can they really accurately describe the sounds of a resting short-eared owl? Perhaps, but if you're looking to listen to the natural world of the Western states, you should probably click on over to the Western Soundscape Archive website. This aural database is housed at the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library and features recordings contributed by state and federal agencies, conservation groups, and dedicated volunteers. Started in 2007, the archive continues to grow, and currently they have representative sounds from approximately 80% of the West's bird species and 90% of the region's frog and toad species. Visitors can get started here by taking a listen to the "Featured Sound" on the homepage and then move on over to the search engine. The site also has weekly podcasts, and a number of thematic sound collections, like the "Sounds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge". Overall, it's a tremendously well-presented site, and one that will be of interest to naturalists, scholars, and many others.
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