on 9/5/05 10:02 AM, Don Lloyd at wrote:
> <snip>
> I believe some critters take advantage of pink noise 'confusing the space=
',
> as you put it. Whilst recording in marshes, I've noticed frogs and red-wi=
ng
> blackbirds (among others) piping up when a jet plane blankets the area in
> pink noise, or when a diesel truck downshifts on a nearby hill. When the =
jet
> or truck fades away, the frog chorus has reached critical mass and contin=
ues
> on its own for a while, only to eventually die down and await the next
> protective, predator-disorienting pink blanket.
>
>
> -- Don
>
>
I too have noticed that birds will crank up the volume when confronted with
loud & 'unnatural' sounds. A few years back I was tasked with doing bird
surveys in a relatively inaccessible area, so we used a helicopter to get t=
o
the place. I figured I'd have to wait at least 10 minutes after the chopper
left to let the birds recover, before starting the survey. I was surprised
to find that they merely sang LOUDER (or so it seemed). I only had to wait
until the chopper noise had subsided so that I could hear. Whether the bird=
s
were taking advantage of pink noise, or whether they were trying to
compensate for the interference is up for debate, but whatever the case,
they were certainly not frightened or put off by the extraneous noise. The
same behaviour was apparent every time we did the survey.
Mark Phinney
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