To all,
I am currently involved in a study of the endangered Regent
Honeyeater, and we are finding how useful vocalizations can be for
tracking their movements over long distances. The trouble is that
sound recordists are even more scarce than Regent Honeyeaters. Many
of the researchers involved with this bird species do not, and have
never, carried a tape recorder, yet they have made some very
interesting observations e.g. 'We heard a Regent giving mimicry of a
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater for the whole day', but of course by the
time I got there with a tape recorder the bird was no longer giving
the mimicry.
I would like to suggest to some of these scientific folk that they
should carry a recorder ALWAYS in the field, especially now that some
lovely little CF recorders are now available. Regent Honeyeaters
have a relatively soft song, so a gun mic would definitely be a
requirement.
So far my choice is:
Olympus LS-10 recorder
lightweight headphones
Sennheiser ME66 gun mic with Rode WS6 softie-style wind cover
(cheaper than Rycote)
short connecting lead XLR to miniplug
With this outfit I found I could hand-hold the mic if I was careful,
and using the low cut switch ON with both the mic and the Olympus, a
very useful birdsong recording could be obtained. The mic I happen
to have has a battery powered K6 unit and it seems sensitive to noise
over the switch area (which is not covered by the windshield).
My question is, would this minimal recording setup be a better bet if
I was using the non-battery powered K6 unit, and using the plug-in
power from the Olympus?
All other light-weight recording ideas gratefully received!
Vicki Powys
Australia
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