Barb,
A quick reply as I am off to northeast Brazil tomorrow for three weeks.
I try to record the natural song wherever possible and use playback mainly
to attract a bird that is vocalising so I can see and identify it. Remember
that in tropical forests there are a lot of species and many of these are
very little known. For some species there are no commercially available
recordings and without playback I would end up with a lot of unidentified
vocalisations.
Jeremy
At 12:25 02/07/03 -0600, you wrote:
>Hi Jeremy and Joseph,
>I think you are frequently going to be disappointed with the vocalizations
>you get using playback to get a bird to vocalize. I have used it from time
>to time particularly with a bird that I do not have a recording of for my
>students or one that is nearly impossible for me to get to (Western
>Flycatchers who live on steep sides of canyons above rushing water where it
>makes recording difficult to say the least - particularly for a gimpy old
>lady) Often the bird gives a very very agitated song - one you do not even
>hear as another male encroaches its teritory. Possibly because we are so
>loud and maybe in the middle of his area. Anyway it produces very unnatural
>sounding songs at least to these old ears.
>
>What also disturbs me is the way these very agitated birds react. They
>expose themselves much more than they normally do with obvious consequences
>if there is a predator around and it also takes them away from what they
>should be doing - eating and raising a family. Just use it with care for the
>bird and for your recordings. One of my early recording trips I played an
>oven bird in an area where I knew one had been singing to get a recording.
>It was late in the nesting season and the bird was not singing The bird
>shot out of the woods immediately and perched above us on a stick singing
>very loudly and fast. The worst thing is that after recording it we left
>and came back by the area about 15 minutes later - the bird was still
>exposed and singing. Really made me stop and think about what we had done.
>The recording although loud was not a natural sounding song.
>
>Barb Beck
>Edmonton AB Canada
>-----Original Message-----
>From: jctbirder
>Sent: July 2, 2003 11:47 AM
>To:
>Subject: [Nature Recordists] Utterly Newbie Query re: Speaker for MiniDisc
>
>I've just received my Sony MZ-NF810 and am eager to take it into the
>field for recording and playback of bird vocalizations. I would like
>to acquire a small speaker that I could somehow attach to my belt for
>playback, and would greatly appreciate advice on both speaker
>recommendations and how to effectively carry the speaker in the
>field...Thanks!
>Joseph Thompson
>Los Angeles
>
>
>
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
|