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Lang Elliott
Lang Elliott
My name is Lang and I am the founder and team leader of musicofnature.org. I am also a nature sound recordist, photographer, videographer, author, designer, pseudo-webmaster, etc.
For the last twenty years, as the sole proprietor of NatureSound Studio, I’ve produced numerous books and compact discs celebrating the songs and calls of birds, frogs, insects, and mammals. Some of my work can be seen here, including several titles co-authored with other members of our team!
I’ve always told myself that when I turned sixty, I would stop specializing in nature sounds and instead embrace all of nature, especially nature near at hand. So here I am doing just that, totally up to my neck in nature’s primordial soup, intent on recovering my childhood sense of wonder as I roam about collecting high definition video and sound recordings that will make our web site rock!
Hi, I’m Carl. I grew up in Savannah, Georgia and became a nature lover through an early interest in reptiles and amphibians. I still live my childhood dreams as a university professor who teaches animal behavior and herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians).
My research in acoustic communication in frogs, which has taken me to Australia, South and Central America, and Europe, has led to new discoveries about the evolution of communication and some of the underlying mechanisms. For more information about my academic work, check out my University of Missouri faculty home page and Acoustic Communication in Insects and Anurans, a scientific book I coauthored in 2002 with biologist Franz Huber.
My sound recordings of frogs and toads and a common friend and mentor, Dean Metter (who taught herpetology at Missouri before me), led to my initial connection to Lang and ultimately to our coauthoring of The Frogs and Toads of North America, a popular book published in 2009. I am interested in all kinds of animals and I love photographing them, but the ability of video to capture both behavior and sounds has made high definition video my primary focus. I look forward to a productive and exciting collaboration with Lang and the rest of the Music of Nature team.
Marie Read
Marie Read
Hello, I’m Marie and I’m a wildlife photographer and nature writer. I’ve loved birds and nature in general ever since I was a little girl growing up in the English countryside, but it wasn’t until I began studying birds more than 25 years ago in East Africa that I became interested in bird behavior.
Birds are really cool creatures with fascinating lives, and my main goal in life is to photograph them doing their thing! I’ve traveled throughout the world in search of beautiful birds to photograph, but many of my most compelling images come from my own backyard and within a couple of miles of my home near Ithaca, New York.
Since I started working with Lang in the early 1990s, my appreciation for bird sounds has grown considerably. I’m thrilled to be part of the Music of Nature team, and looking forward to sharing some of my best photos on the site. You can see more of my work at www.marieread.com.
Wil Hershberger
Wil Hershberger
My name is Wil and I am a nature photographer, videographer, and sound recordist. I own and operate Nature Images and Sounds, LLC with my wife Donna.
I have been interested in the natural world most of my life. Growing up in a rural community in the Mid-Atlantic area afforded me plentiful opportunities to explore the wonders of nature during my formative years.
Having witnessed the explosive human population growth over the last few decades has increased my desire to capture and share the wonders of nature with others in hopes that they too will find our natural world worth protecting. I have been teaching and leading field trips for Audubon chapters and birding groups for nearly three decades and my focus has always been on nature near at hand.
Reveling in the wonders that are around us rather than lamenting the things that aren’t there—Wow, that sounds a lot like the Nature Study Ideal and I couldn’t be happier working with Lang and the team to bring compelling audio, video and personal reflections to our visitors.
Bob McGuire
Bob McGuire
Hi neighbor!—(after appearing on “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood,” I am allowed to say that). My name is Bob. Following my careers as a classroom teacher, artist, and welder, I have settled into the role of field biologist and nature sound recordist.
I am happiest of all outdoors, whether sailing, skiing, hiking, cycling, or counting birds. My wife got me into birding a decade ago, and now I wonder why I waited so long. I am especially interested in the variety of songs and calls associated with bird behavior and look forward to featuring the best of my field recordings on the Music of Nature web site.
