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Recordist's notes
This is the sound of my two remaining naughty ducks, Honey and Pretzel. Sadly Bonbon is no longer with us. But as you can hear, the other two make up for it with extra quacking. Every day I give them clean water (which they destroy instantly) and some food pellets (which they sometimes eat, but sometimes they forget because they are too busy eating insects instead). I also periodically empty out their paddling pool, scrub all the poo and algae off it, and refresh it with clean water (which they destroy instantly... do you sense a theme?) They quack almost constantly and I love the sound. They have a very noisy, alarmed sort of sound which they direct at us and which you can hear here, but then also they have this little chuntering duck banter which they seem to do just between themselves. They are very rarely silent, even when they are just resting in the long grass they are muttering to each other in duck. To me it sounds like they are always annoyed, but when I look at them they seem like happy ducks. Recorded with EDIROL R-09 and two boisterous Khaki Campbell lady ducks.
About the place
Reading is a city of about 318,014 people in England, United Kingdom. OttoAnna lists 153 field recordings from here.
Equipment mentioned: Roland / Edirol R-05 & R-09. Compact Roland/Edirol recorders that were popular for early sound-map contributions.
Recorded nearby
Ducks and Humans interacting
Reading, United Kingdom
Chickens and Tits
Reading, United Kingdom
Robin and urban machinery
Reading, United Kingdom
A sparrow singing in the dead distorted hazel tree
Reading, United Kingdom
The morning duck ritual
Reading, United Kingdom
Planes, birds, traffic and wind chimes
Reading, United Kingdom
More by Felicity Ford
White stones cafe - White Stones Cafe - retracing Joe's footsteps…
Weymouth, United Kingdom
White stones cafe - White Stones Cafe Sculpture Garden stone wall…
Weymouth, United Kingdom
Robin singing in Winter
Reading, United Kingdom
Creaky train between Waterloo East and London Bridge
London, United Kingdom
Doves fluttering
Fleet, United Kingdom
Owls and jackdaws
Winchester, United Kingdom
More frogs & insects recordings
Sources & credits
- “My garden Reading, UK - Honey and Pretzel and me doing the chores” by Felicity Ford – CC BY-SA 3.0 · radio aporee ::: maps via Internet Archive
- Reverse geocoding: GeoNames – CC BY 4.0