Hi Nathan,
Martyn has a rig that's waterproof and can be programmed to record at
set times. Maybe he'll share that info again with us.
I've spent many long hours trying to record the Black Swifts near
waterfalls and have a few recordings. As you mentioned, there is a
LOT of waterfall noise associated with the nesting habitat of these
birds. It just roars. You have to shout to have a conversation.
The other alternative in getting their vocalizations is to find them
foraging, they can do this at very high altitudes and it would take
lots of luck to get their sounds.
At the nest site I've found that they come out from under the
waterfall right at dawn and fly around for a few minutes, then they
are off for the day. I've sat around the waterfall for hours during
the day without seeing one. Maybe they come in during the day but my
guess is that they do so infrequently at best. Then, just at or
after sunset, they come in, fly around the waterfall a bit, calling a
bit, and swoop in under the falls to the nest for the night.
The one time I got fairly useable recordings was just after a
thunderstorm in Colorado when they foraged for awhile low near the
falls. All other times they went back high into the sky, barely
visable to the unaided eye. We have one fall near Sundance ski
resort here in Utah that has swifts and there is a high mountain
location here where they can be found with luck. You probably
already know the Colorado site.
Good Luck,
Kevin
On Aug 16, 2008, at 5:35 PM, Nathan Pieplow wrote:
>
> 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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