Alexia,
Thanks for the very helpful comments. It is helpful to know the
language of the birds, including their alarms. On two occasions I have
heard the high thin aerial predator alarms of American Robins, looking
up just in time to see Cooper's Hawks fly by. Once I heard a Sage
thrasher do the same call and looked up to see a Sharp-shinned Hawk
coming in. A mob of Magpies once alerted me to a cougar kill. So, it's
fun to pay attention to what's going on out there.
Kevin J Colver
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Alexia Stevens
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:00 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] Man made noise and nature recording
As a teacher of bird language, one of the things I am trying to record
is interactions between people and humans. I come to nature recording
from the bird and bushcraft side, and consistently see people's eyes and
ears open as they realize the impact of their behavior in the woods.
"You mean that song sparrow was feeding calmly until I came along? What
kind of noise am I making and how can I reduce it?" I see groups of kids
go from rambunctious to respectful listeners when we point out the birds
(and point out that the best way to avoid a hungry cougar is to listen
for alarming birds).
Nature recording has been a way for me to capture stories: Here is the
peaceful meadow edge, with feeding and singing birds. Now listen for the
alarm calls and the silence...and right on cue, the jogger comes down
the trail. Footsteps recede into the distance again, and the birds
return. Or, to take a recent example, here is the stealthy nature
recordist, sneaking through the forest towards the owls while a winter
wren sings in the background...And here is that nature recordist leaping
in panic as she steps in a yellowjacket nest, while the winter wren
starts alarming vociferously at her!
I get my students to sit outside for long stretches of time to listen
"in the flesh", but having scenarios captive as sound reduces the
learning curve. One of the best recordings in my slide show is of juncos
alarming. I ask people to listen for what is perturbing the juncos, and
they all feel very proud of themselves when they finally hear the
jingling dog tags. The stories in sound intrigue people, and help them
realize the concentric rings of disturbance they emit. For this reason I
try to include recognizable human sounds in my recordings when
appropriate, and not to censor a recording with a plane overhead if the
sounds still tell a viable story. I love a no-humans-in-earshot
recording as much as the next person, but I am not going to stop
recording at my house even if there is traffic in the background. Even
if I never get a professional quality squeaky-clean recording from my
backyard, I am sure out there having fun. My ulterior motive is to help
people be aware of EVERY sound, and consequently more inclined to reduce
unnecessary anthropogenic ones.
Chirp,
Alexia Stevens
Bird language teacher
Woodinville, Washington
www.WildernessAwareness.org
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