Description

Recording duck sounds in a rice field in Bali

Every morning Libby and I would go for our hour-long walk through the rice fields while living in Bali. Each time, we would see dozens of ducks in the middle of fields quacking and busy at work.

During the rice seasons, you’ll notice many ducks roaming around the fields as workers to control weeds and pests from harming the crops. This method has been used for hundreds of years in China and throughout Southeast Asia. Unfortunately now, much of the rice is used with artificial fertilizers, herbicides, and chemical pesticides.

It takes about 120 days to harvest rice and in Ubud they do this twice a year. The farmers planting the seeds seasons between January-February and in July-August. The harvesting time then is in April-May and October to November.

Capturing sounds of ducks

I found one rice field area with at least 100 and more ducks. It’s hard to say the exact amount because they moved around quickly through the tall crop.

I walked to several different locations and recorded different angles of the paddies. Sometimes the ducks were very close and other times they more in the distance. There is one point in the recording. where the ducks started to run very fast! Besides this, I recorded many quacking and waddling sounds. I personally love this natural soundscape and I hope you too and you can use it!