Doug Von Gausig wrote:
> At 03:11 PM 6/26/2003, Walter Knapp wrote:
>
>>And before any of the bird recordists get to uppity, just how many
>>frogcalls can you identify to species, or insects, or mammals? I've been
>>out with bird recordists, where I would hear the frogs, they would hear
>>the birds, and it was real work for us to hear each other's favorite
>>animal. Let alone identify them.
>
>
> Boy, that's for sure! I try to learn any frog I hear or record, and I'm
> getting better at it, but not nearly as good as I am with birds. Frogs ar=
e
> often nocturnal, and that makes learning them a bit more difficult. They=
> also tend to "sing" at very specific times and in specific conditions.
> Luckily there are far fewer frog species out there than birds!
There are some species here you are lucky to get a few nights a year.
And you don't know which nights.
I don't consider night to be a big disadvantage. In fact down here in
hot Georgia it's much more pleasant working at night.
> Web sites like Walter's for frogs and mine for birds are among the best
> ways we have for disseminating species identifications. I have offered to=
> help recordists ID sounds, and I know that Walter will do the same.
Though it get's real tricky ID'ing frogs from outside my area. There are
sections of the world where there are only written descriptions of the
calls.
>
> Someday we'll devise the perfect heuristic "key" for sounds, but until
> then, we just have to learn a bit more and slowly get more proficient.
>
> Speaking of that key, does anyone want to try to create it? It's not easy=
,
> but could be very, very helpful, especially for beginners.
At the moment I'm hunting around to see if there is a "build a key" sort
of software for the Palm OS. I can do it as html pages, but looking for
something a bit simpler. Something I can use to assemble a key from my
own data and pictures (and audio).
Walt
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