Thank you both for the info. Walt: I will be recording using an MS
stereo setup, so looking at your recommendations, I will probably be
attempting to keep the possible humans to my backside and keep the
frogs at close range... even if I have to get swampy.
Meena: thanks for the sites. I will most likely be in Newfield, so Ill
drive by Connecticut Hill and see whats happening.
David
--- In Walter Knapp <> wrote:
>
> Posted by: "asiootusloe"
> >
> >
> > Hi David,
> > Some info from Ithaca resident! There are lots of frogs calling. but
> > as for quiet places, I am afraid they seem to be fewer these days.
> > You could try Connecticut Hill Ponds, Sapsucker Woods Ponds, Bull
> > Pasture ponds, Thomas Road Pond etc. But road traffic is amazing and
> > can be heard several miles away. So it all depends on your luck and
> > how quick you are to get some decent recordings just before the next
> > car comes. In connecticut hills the noise is mostly of planes and
> > amazingly sometimes even at night there are as many as six planes
> > flying overhead. It seems to be a major fly way for international
> > routes.
>
> There are some things you can do to help tone down unwanted distant
noise.
>
> Set a directional mic very high relative to your subjects and pointed
> down. This will help cut out the mic also picking up distant noise
along
> the direction it's pointing. The pickup field of a mic is three
> dimensional, so you have to think in those terms.
>
> The second way is to use a stereo setup. You can then take advantage of
> the best sound filter we have, our own processing of the sounds in our
> brains. It's much easier to pick out the frogs if their call has a
> direction that's different from the noise in the stereo field. Again if
> the stereo setup has directionality high and pointing down also helps.
>
> Or if you are limited to the ground, position yourself so that the
major
> noise source is behind the mic with the frogs in front. Yes, that may
> involve wading in the swamp, but you are a dedicated nature recordist
> (or are you?).
>
> Note for those recording feathered dinosaurs (birds) getting under ones
> in the trees and recording up with a directional setup can help with
> distant highways, though often not with airplanes.
>
> BTW, I did not invent the term Fieldcraft, others have used it far
> longer than I have.
>
> Last quite a few species of frogs are set off calling by passing cars,
> airplanes or whatever. You can get useful bits of calling by taking
> advantage of this. I've even been known to have someone drive by some
> particularly reluctant bunch of frogs just to set them off. Playback
> could work too, but I'm not normally set up for that. I do use vocal
> calls I make with some species.
>
> Walt
>
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