Cenote bird is a real field recording made inside the Cho Ha cenote, near the Cobá ruins in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Felix Blume recorded a motmot calling there in July 2012 and released it under CC0. A cenote is a natural sinkhole in the Yucatán's limestone, sometimes open to the sky and sometimes under a rock overhang.
What is a motmot?
This recording's own title on Freesound names the bird directly: "Motmot bird inside a cenote in Yucatan." Its tags mention drops falling too, which is the water sound alongside the call. On greensound, nothing more is stated about the bird than what its source gives.
Why only a month and year?
Its source states only "recorded in july 2012," a month rather than a full day. The mixer's info panel only holds complete dates, so it shows none for this recording; this page names the month the source gives, July 2012, since prose isn't limited to that fixed format.
Why is it less even than rain?
The motmot calls now and then rather than continuously, so this recording has more natural rise and fall than a steady sound like jungle rain. Its loudest moments — the calls themselves — read as sharp spikes rather than a slow swell. This recording, like every one added after night wetland, went through a loudness check built to catch and soften spikes like that without flattening a slower rise and fall. Here, that check softened the calls by about 14.3 dB so they don't jump out sharply each time the loop comes back around; the owner listened to the softened file and kept it. The loop itself still gets the same 2-second equal-power crossfade as every other recording here, so the seam between one pass and the next can't click, whatever lands near it.
Where the sound comes from
Listen safely
This is a sound, played back through whatever speaker or headphones you already own. It doesn't diagnose, measure, or promise anything about how you sleep, focus, or feel — it's just noise and a handful of real recordings, mixed the way you like them.
Keep the volume low enough that you'd still notice a smoke alarm, a phone ringing, or someone at the door. If you fall asleep in headphones, choose a volume and a pair you'd be comfortable wearing all night, and a session length that ends when you'd want the sound to stop.
If you use this near a baby, keep the speaker several feet from the crib, never inside or clipped to it, and keep the volume low — the same care you'd take with any sound machine in a nursery.
If your relationship with sound, or with sleep, feels difficult rather than simply restless, a doctor or audiologist is the right person to talk to. This is a mixer, not a clinician.
Is cenote bird part of the free plan?
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Yes, fifteen minutes a day. This sound is free to play for fifteen minutes a day, with a fade at the end, and Pause keeps the minutes you have left. Pro adds the full mixes, layering, longer timers, and new recordings first.
Is the loop noticeable?
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Yes. What plays is a loop cut from the original recording, using a window of 20 to 40 seconds, like every real recording here, so a close listener may notice it come back around.
Is it public domain?
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Yes. Felix Blume released it under CC0, so anyone may use it for anything. We credit him anyway.
Can I hear it alongside other sounds?
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With Pro, yes, by hand. Cenote bird isn't part of a ready-made mix, but the mixer supports up to six sounds at once, so you can add it to any mix you build yourself. Without Pro, one sound plays at a time.