From: "Martyn Stewart" <>
>
> I'm popping down to Florida next weekend for a few days, has anyone on the
> group got a good place to record, quietish? I'll be around the Orlando area
> unfortunately, I know of Merritt Island wildlife area but I'm looking for
> somewhere remote. Lang, any ideas?
> Thanks in advance......
"Orlando" now covers Florida clear across, or so it seems, not the best
starting point.
When you get tired of recording the feathered dinosaurs, there are some
that look a bit more like one. The Male Alligators should be bellowing.
Their call does go way down into the infrasound, below what our
recorders can handle, but there's plenty that you can hear. Dawn and
into early morning is not a bad time for them. Though they can get going
just about anytime. If you get to watch one calling, watch along their
sides as the infrasound vibrations ripple the water.
The Winter/Early Spring frogs are still going here and the main Spring
frogs are tuning up. Down there it will be farther along. Try getting
out late at night, say 2AM or so. Even some areas that are pretty full
of noise in the day can be ok then. The real show for frogs is at night.
There is this mysterious phenominum in early evening, backcountry roads
that were deserted in the daytime have lots of traffic. Especially if
you turn on a recorder. There are some frogs that only call until about
11PM, making it a problem.
If you check out low landscape bushes that have natural mulch under them
just after the sprinkler system has run (or it's rained) you may hear a
sort of cricket like call. Looking under the bushes may reveal the tiny
Greenhouse Frog. Not native, has no tadpole stage, and is pretty widely
distributed in Florida. It's only in a few towns in Georgia, shipped up
in potted plants. You can hear the call here:
http://wwknapp.home.mindspring.com/docs/greenhouse.frog.html
Note there is also another frog with cricket like calls, the native
Little Grass Frog, tends to call with rain, but can be calling anytime
of year:
http://wwknapp.home.mindspring.com/docs/little.grass.frog.html
Looking through my frog pages will reveal quite a few others you may
hear, though many of our frogs only get about as far south as Orlando if
that far. Best bet is simply driving back roads at night and listening.
There are more species in fishless water than water with fish. And
fishless water is generally too small to be on maps. I'd expect you
would hear Southern Toads, several treefrogs, they are just getting
started, Southern Cricket Frogs will be calling, Eastern Narrowmouth
Toads might be going down there. With heavy rain you might hear
Spadefoot Toads. Pig frogs and Bullfrogs may be calling. Southern
Leopard Frogs will be going. The various Chorus frogs are near done and
only in northern Florida. Gopher frogs should be done.
Note if you should decide to try Okeefenokee (it would be about as close
as everglades) be aware they lock the place up at sunset and don't open
in time for the dawn activity. Chesser Island has a long boardwalk out
into the swamp for daytime only. The only way to be out in the swamp at
night (or even near it) is to go on a multiday paddling trip through the
swamp, and that's not something you can do on the spur of the moment.
Permits alone would stop you. You can actually paddle in the swamp at
night otherwise, but the only launch that's accessible at night is way
up near Waycross, Pogo's home town. Anyway Pogo greets you from their
water tank. All in all, given the choice I'd head for Everglades.
> Secondly, is the wait for the sound devices 722 any better? Is there still a
> backlog or a waiting list?
> I took the pmd-670 to Wales last week while attending my brother's funeral
> and took it on myself to record the dawn chorus, there was virtually no
> noise pollution and this exposed the self noise of the recorder, I was using
> 2 mkh-20. This is the first time I have experienced the noise of the
> machine.
> I did a reading of the location and I was monitoring 25dba.
It's one of the reasons why so many don't find mic self noise or preamp
noise, they simply don't have quiet enough places when they try, or they
don't use quiet enough mics. MKH-20's are often cited as good mics for
testing preamps. MKH-60's are even quieter. The amount of equipment that
can do a good job in the very quiet sites is limited.
Even recording distant subjects in noisier sites is not the same. The
noise is still messing up the recording, but it's masked by the noise of
the site. The lovely sound of a quiet site is a challenge to equipment.
Walt
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