I'm back from poking around in S Georgia. Recorded frogs in 8 counties.
Lots of new county records when it's sorted out. And a recording of a
group of mystery frogs to sort out...
But one of the enjoyable spots I found while hunting a place to roost
for the night. Mahaw wildlife preserve in Miller County. I went in where
the GPS said there was a road, and found myself following two tracks
through the grass and woods in the dark, which suddenly became two
tracks through a swamp, then back to dry land on to the camping area,
with some breaks when it was just grass meadow with no tracks. Yesterday
morning I drove back out the same way, and stopped in the swamp. A
couple faint River frog calls meant I would have to plan on being there
last night. At 2 AM this morning I returned from my recording route. The
River Frogs were going nicely, as well as others.
I set up the SASS/MKH-20 on my tall tripod. This puts the mic at about
16' up. I recorded a considerable amount of a group of River Frogs about
30' out. Then lowered the setup all the way down, and recorded some more
of the same group at 4' height.
Samples are linked off my mic page:
http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/mic_samples.html
WARNING, these are big downloads!
There is also a link to a photo of the tall setup taken yesterday morning.
http://wwknapp.home.mindspring.com/tall.tripod.1.jpg
There are both the regular breeding call and some of what I've been
assuming is their territorial threat call. There is another group in the
distance, also Southern Cricket Frogs, Green Treefrogs, Bullfrogs, Pig
Frogs, maybe more. Plus plenty of insects, note the mosquitoes
investigating the mic way up in the air.
There is a difference in the two heights. And this is with a not very
directional mic. The only change between the two recordings was the
height and that at the tall setting I tilted the SASS down a little.
Kind of like if you were on a very tall stepladder looking down at the
frogs, or standing on the ground looking straight out.
There is a highway about 2 miles away through the woods.
For those of you with a purist bent, the "realistic" volume would be so
the River Frogs are calling at quiet conversational volume. The mp3's
are encoded from the raw recordings.
Also, here's what a Telinga looks like on the tall tripod:
http://wwknapp.home.mindspring.com/tall.tripod.2.jpg
That is my Ford Ranger, with high top canopy, the roof bars are just
over 6' up.
Walt
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
|
