naturerecordists
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Ventriloquism in Birds

Subject: Re: Ventriloquism in Birds
From: "Barb Beck" bhbeck1941
Date: Tue Oct 2, 2007 11:52 pm ((PDT))
Sure if you believe in Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd (shows how 
old I am)

People say that Saw-whet Owls throw their voices so you cannot tell 
where they are calling from.  That is complete myth. Often you can tell 
exactly from where they are calling.   At times other times you cannot 
tell the direction from which they are calling because they tend to call 
in unison. Only occasionally could you hear them a little out of sync 
and only for a beat   Hard to pick up.   I took the parabola out one 
night just to prove it.  Had a big Roche which could really pinpoint 
exactly what it was aimed at.  As I remember the record was 7 birds that 
I could sort out in different directions - all tooting perfectly 
together and I could only hear one but could not tell the direction. 
Might be a  thing so that  they do not become dinner for something which 
can pinpoint where they are calling.

Walt - do frogs do that??

Barb Beck
Edmonton, Alberta Canada




<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the naturerecordists mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU