Famous roadrunner voice: "Meep, meep!" Showed up in theatres all over
the country from the 40s on.
Bernie
>Greetings Naturerecordists,
>
>(Nothing on sound recording in this posting, in case you wish to delete now;
>one small item re sound, at the end.)
>
>Congratulations Martyn, on your Colima Warbler success.
>
>And thanks for reviving some happy memories for me - not of the Warbler
>alas, but of that magnificent National Park.
>
>In 1972 I was working in national park administration in Queensland,
>Australia, and after attending the Second World Conference on National Parks
>at Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, I visited some selected parks with
>relevance to our situation here in Australia to learn of their management.
>
>It was an official trip and nature sound recording was not be included.
>However, there were four species of American birds in particular that I
>hoped I might at least see. I arrived at Big Bend H/Q early in the morning
>and was just comfortably seated in the Superintendents office, when I saw
>one of my desired birds right outside his office window: a Road-runner! It
>seems that it did a circuit of the buildings every morning to check for
>insects that had been attracted to the lights during the night.
>
>Question for Naturerecordists: Does a Roadrunner have a voice? Has it been
>recorded?
>
>I was greatly impressed by both the Park and the management of it. Just a
>few points:
>
>Road design: Big Bend is (or was in '72) primarily a wilderness park. It
>is very large, requiring an extensive road system. But it was so superbly
>designed that as you drive along, nowhere do you see any road beyond the
>next curve. Nowhere, as you look across the expanse of low desert
>shrubbery, is there any sign of human activity, to disturb the sense of
>wilderness, of undisturbed nature.
>
>Climb above the cliffs behind the H/Q for a view from above over the Park
>and the extent of the road system is apparent.
>
>And I wonder if one special management activity, which must have been
>expensive, is still able to be afforded. Sealing the roads to solve a dust
>problem as traffic increased, brought another problem. Run-off from the
>sealed surface, effectively increased soil moisture immediately beside road.
>Shrubs that had been naturally below eye-level of a passenger car, then grew
>taller - sufficient to block the view. In '72, the Park Service was
>hand-pruning and distributing the prunings out of sight to maintain the
>natural vista.
>
>An amazing sight (at least for this Australian) was to see huge spiders
>(Martyn's tarantulas, I guess) wandering nonchalantly across the bitumen in
>broad daylight. Goodness knows how hot that sealed surface must have been!
>
>The item re sound. As I recall, the Park Service buildings, tourist
>facilities and the like were in a village at the foot of some towering
>cliffs (of the Chisos Mtns?). But one can skirt around to the right and
>climb up to come out on top of the cliff, and look down on the village far
>below. Which I did ... to be greeted by a blast of pop music from a
>juke-box, funnelled up to me by some freak acoustics of the local
>topography.
>
>Rather spoilt the peace and quiet to which Martyn refers, and the sense of
>wilderness. But also served to remind me how superbly well the Park was
>managed in general.
>
>Thanks Martyn.
>
>Syd
>
>
>
>> From: "Martyn Stewart" <>
>> Reply-To:
>> Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 23:27:54 -0700
>> To: "'Naturerecordists'" <>, "'Naturesound'"
>
>>
>> What an incredible place Big Bend is, I saw and recorded some 78 species and
>> the peace and quiet was something I only remember as a kid....
>>
>
>
>
>
>"Microphones are not ears,
>Loudspeakers are not birds,
>A listening room is not nature."
>Klas Strandberg
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
--
Wild Sanctuary
P. O. Box 536
Glen Ellen, CA 95442
t. 707-996-6677
f. 707-996-0280
http://www.wildsanctuary.com
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
|