I've been enjoying this discussion, thanks everyone!Yes, earbirding.com is
great, I like Nathan Piepelow's article entitled The Microphone You Already Own
- http://earbirding.com/blog/archives/2240. I can't afford any of the equipment
discussed right now, but I do have a simple voice recorder - and most people
already have some means of recording - using a mobile or camera. So for those
who are a bit put off by the scary equipment list that is being discussed (like
me) it would be worth giving it a go with what you already have. It may not
give you the quality required for serious analysis, but it's a start, and can
be great for ID purposes and also learning calls. I am trying to make it a
habit to always bring my recorder with me - and as I don't currently own an
external mic, it just fits in a pocket, I just have to remember to get it out
and turn it on (and then I have to remember to not start chatting with my
toddler while it's recording)!By the way, you can extract audio
from recordings made on your camera using a free editing program like Virtual
Dub which I have recently come across for work:
http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/Someone mentioned xeno-canto - I found it
very helpful for South America too. But I looked up Rockwarbler today and it's
not there! I recorded Rockwarblers during a survey in Lawson (Blue Mountains)
this morning, spurred on by this discussion (first recording in ages!) but I
doubt it would be of suitable quality for xeno-canto, though I'm not sure if
there is a requirement on this. Interestingly, the format required is MP3, so
I'm not sure what good the files are for more detailed analysis, but there is a
list on there of scientific publications using files from xeno-canto, so how
does that work? Wouldn't the files be missing important information due to the
compression process?
.........................................
Arwen Blackwood
> From:
> To:
> Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:01:45 +1000
> CC:
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Fw: Sound Recording Bird Calls
>
> I pass on the following appeal from David Stewart, the bird song-and-call
> expert, for birders to show as much interest in obtaining records of their
> voice as well as their appearance. In this case I am one of the guilty
> because for much of my life my vision has been superior to my hearing.
> Moreover, with age, the latter deteriorated faster!
>
> Mike Carter
> 30 Canadian Bay Road
> Mount Eliza VIC 3930
> Tel (03) 9787 7136
>
>
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