birding-aus

Re: [Birding-Aus] Recognition of bird song—mental process

To: "John Leonard" <>
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Recognition of bird song—mental process
From: "Evan Beaver" <>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:05:59 +1000
Sometimes, if it's a bird I have actually seen calling.

But if I listen to a recording of a bird I'm trying to find, I
remember how the call is different from one I know. So for Swift
Parrot I remembered it as being a Rainbow Lorry getting squeezed in
the middle while calling. Variegated Fairy's are Superbs that have
been wound up too tight and are caught in a loop.

Do you do maths in your head with numbers? Or do the pictures just
join together to make new shapes that have a meaning?

EB

On 9/18/08, John Leonard <> wrote:
> I am just writing because I have noticed something interesting about
> my recognition of bird-song and I wanted to know whether other birders
> have noticed this too, or whether their experience contradicts this:
>
> I am not, in fact, very good at recognising bird-calls or bird-song.
> I know the calls of the common birds around about and some distinctive
> ones I hear less frequently. But mostly I have to keep on reminding
> myself with the aid of tapes what the calls or songs of certain birds
> are.
>
> However, when I do recognise the call or song of an unseen bird what
> happens if it's a very common bird is that I just think 'Magpie' or
> whatever, however if it's a call that need a short time before I
> recognise it, when I do recognise it I get a mental picture of the
> bird flashing through my mind, often the image is of the bird actually
> calling. I don't get the name of the bird flashing in my mind.
>
> Has anyone else had this experience?
>
> Cheers
>
> John L
>
>
> --
> John Leonard
> Canberra
> Australia
> www.jleonard.net
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> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
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-- 
Evan Beaver
Lapstone, Blue Mountains, NSW
lat=-33.77, lon=150.64
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