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Roadrunner

Subject: Roadrunner
From: Syd Curtis <>
Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 22:00:17 +1000
Many thanks Martyn.  As I've mentioned before, I'm not really competent with
computers and the internet, and just don't try connecting to web sites.  But
for a Roadrunner, I did give it a try  .... and to my surprise, it worked!
So now, I've actually heard what they sound like.  Great!

Syd



> From: "Martyn Stewart" <>
> Reply-To: 
> Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 23:29:26 -0700
> To: <>
> Subject: RE: [Nature Recordists] Big Bend N. P.
> 
> http://www.naturesound.org/Sound%20Files/Greater%20Roadrunner.mp3
> 
> Just for you Syd but sorry no beep beep!!
> It is like the sound of a moaning dog to me, I only caught these sounds from
> the roadrunner but I do believe there is a much more snappy noise too.
> 
> Great story told as usual Syd, you have the knack of painting a picture, the
> park is a wonderful place and maybe not much different to when you were
> there. I would have stuffed the radio where the sun doesn't shine though!!
> 
> 
> Martyn
> 
> Martyn Stewart
> Bird and Animal Sounds Digitally Recorded at:
> http://www.naturesound.org
> 
> N47.65543   W121.98428
> Redmond. Washington. USA
> Make every Garden a wildlife Habitat!
> 
> 425-898-0462
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
>  On Behalf Of Syd Curtis
> Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 11:13 PM
> To: 
> Subject: [Nature Recordists] Big Bend N. P.
> 
> 
> 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....
>> 
> 



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