Tomales Point, Point Reyes National Seashore, mid-September 2023, 7am — mid-rut for the tule elk. Their haunting bugles carry across the cliffs, joined by barks, chuckles, and a muffled bass glunk. In the immediate soundfield, white-crowned sparrows flit and call among purple lupine and coyote bush, with a Northern Flicker and California Quail calling in the distance. Recorded overnight with clippy EM272 lavalier mics left in a cliffside shrub.