Beaver Moans and Cave Drip - 5min 24sec
May 10, 2024, 11pm. Round Spring State Park, north of Eminence, Missouri. Recorded by Lang Elliott.
In the Ozark region of southern Missouri, Round Spring wells up into a large sinkhole, surrounded by steep forested slopes on all sides. The water is a vivid blue and flows out through a cavelike passageway at one end, emerging about a hundred feet away to form the headwaters of a large creek that meanders a short distance before flowing into the Current River.
With some effort, I am able to place my soundscape microphone a few feet into the cave, where drips from the ceiling and walls make resounding plops, plinks, and snaps as they strike water and stones below. I record the dripping sounds for several hours (see “Cave Drip” track). Then, at 11pm, something unexpected happens.
I start hearing the mournful moans and whines, and later the chewing sounds, of two American Beaver. What a delight! Earlier in the day, I had seen beaver swimming in the creek below. with one heading upstream and disappearing into the cavern. Apparently, the beaver have a den inside the cave, or at least a bed of tree stems and small limbs from which they feed.
A Note from Lang:
Round Spring is a circular pool about a hundred feet across and 55 feet deep. The water flow is enormous—about 26 million gallons per day! The cavelike passageway is nearly twenty feet wide, but only two feet high at the entrance.
