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Re: Nature Recordists, Birdsong, and Speech

Subject: Re: Nature Recordists, Birdsong, and Speech
From: Lew Proudfoot <>
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 18:50:08 -0800 (PST)
Interesting thought, Michael, I am very interested to
learn more.  I had a strange thing happen to me last
summer.  I was in one of my favorite spots, a secluded
inner harbor very good for night herons, although
usually populated with Laughing Gulls, too.  I was
watching the goings on, when I heard something I had
never heard before  - the Laughing Gulls were saying
"HAWK!  HAWK!  HAWK!"  I mean that I clearly
understood they meant there was a hawk, as clearly as
if they had spoken English (or a couple of others).
Instinctively, I looked up, and saw a very clear Red
Tailed Hawk fly overhead.  It was amazing - I had
never heard Laughing Gulls use that sound before, but
I knew instantly that's what it meant.  Is this in the
range of what you are looking for?

Lew


--- Michael Dalton <> wrote:

>     Ladies and Gentlemen,
>=20=20=20
>   I joined this group some time ago because of my
> interest in sonic communication. When members
> discuss identifying a bird by the sound of its song,
> it gives me hope to find a person who is sensitive
> to speech sounds.
>=20=20=20
>   Many members on this list mechanically record
> birdsong or bird calls. I pose this question: Can
> you identify isolated speech sounds made by a
> talking bird? So far, one member of this group
> demonstrated a greater-than-average ability to
> understand speech from real-world recordings of a
> talking bird.
>=20=20=20
>   Despite more than 70 years of effort, man still
> has little idea about the subject of bird
> communications. By reversing the investigative
> procedure, a talking bird communicates using her
> extensive English vocabulary. My macaw speaks
> sequences of words, phrases, and sentences about
> divergent topics that communicate her thoughts
> through words.
>=20=20=20
>   I need someone to work at learning the bird=92s
> dialect to corroborate that my transcription is
> correct. I can provide initial suggestions for a
> listener, who would enjoy being a part of this
> experiment in interspecies communication.
> Eventually, I would like the person to be able to
> demonstrate independent transcription for short,
> unfamiliar, samples. (Isolated words in the bird=92s
> vocabulary are at high school level.) Because the
> bird uses several voices and the statements are
> isolated from extended context, the transcription
> process requires a degree of divergent thinking to
> connect the sounds with the target words.
>=20=20=20
>   General comments are welcomed. Interested parties
> kindly respond directly.
>=20=20=20
>   Thanks to all,
>=20=20=20
>   Mike Dalton
>   Florida
>
>
>
>
>=20=09=09
> ---------------------------------
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>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>





=09=09
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