Folks,
Earlier I made some reference to an ongoing informal project of mine
that involves recording the vocalizations of Black Swifts near the
nest site. For those who don't know, Black Swifts always nest in
close proximity to falling water--in fact, the nests are frequently
well within the spray zone. Adults may have to fly through a curtain
of falling water to reach the nest, and the nestlings may never be
dry until they fledge.
Black Swifts were long thought to be largely silent, but recent work
has shown that they are highly vocal near the nest site--they are
just rarely heard because of all the ambient noise. We are
considering proposing a project that would involve placing remote
microphones near nest sites. We will try to find nests that are as
far from the waterfall spray as possible, but such nests can be
difficult to come by. Thus we would need a recording rig that would
not only meet all the challenges of an Automatic Recording Unit (long
battery life, large memory, basic weatherproofing, small size), but
would also potentially be able to withstand the moisture equivalent
of one or more inches of rain per day.
I'm hoping this group will be able to help me brainstorm my options
and troubleshoot them. Let's get creative! And let's try to keep
costs down as much as possible, since that will increase the
likelihood of this project's being funded.
Thanks--
Nathan Pieplow
Boulder, Colorado
P.S.--By the way, even though it's a little off topic, if anybody has
any ideas for a camera rig that could accompany the microphone (so as
to get simultaneous video and audio), I'd very much appreciate it.
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