Regarding the lectures, yes they are recorded for posterity, but
frankly, there usually isn't enough interest to warrant the effort of
replicating and distributing them. Am I wrong? Are there people here
who want them available? I'm thinking that we will try and post them
as MP3 files, that way no physical media need be duplicated or
shipped.
What I think is perhaps more fun is the compilation CD of participant
recordings made at the workshop. I got a bunch of good excerpts from
more than a dozen participants using a wide variety of techniques and
equipment. I distributed last year's compilation to this year's
attendees; again I hope to make these recordings available as MP3s
and possibly as CDs, but only after the pieces are level-matched,
trimmed, etc. Note to participants: If you didn't submit a clip, and
would like to, mail me off-list for instructions!
I think Martyn and Cliff pretty well summerized the "hoo-ha," as Dan
put it. I was an interesting discussion and I think certainly
worthwhile. As a non-biologist, I lean towords Cliff's comments that
the sound, for many of us, is an end in itself. But I do wish I had
at least some ability to ID more birds by their sound. As I mentioned
during the exchange, I have the Petersen Western CDs, the Sibley
guide, the audoban guide, a national geographic bird book and
probably a few others. Unfortunately, I've found the learning curve
for using these references, let alone developing my ear, daunting.
Doug, you mentioned a few references that you thought were a good way
for interested listeners to get over this hump. Would you care to
reiterate that list?
Martyn, great to see you up there, mate. I can't resist being a
smart-alec and taking a cheap poke at one point of your argument--At
the site in Yuba pass, there was a lot of different wind-in-the-tree
sounds. Is it equally important to have a knowledge of tree species,
their leaf shapes and aero-dynamic properties, so as to be able to
understand more deeply the variety of wind sounds in a particular
environment? I'm only being half-serious here, I was grateful to
have Doug and Martyn and a number of other people around to be able
to ID many of the things I was hearing. I think I have memorized the
call of the nuthatch at dawn-what a relentless honk!
Hope to see you all up there again next summer,
Rudy
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