--- In Bernie Krause <> wrote:
>
> Unusual density of specific bird species and seasonal shift in their
> presence have been noted throughout N. America, Robert. We are
> currently completing a paper for peer-reviewed publication on the
> subject which, we hope, will see print next Fall in a major scientific =
> journal. It will address the changes not only in population density,
> but also diversity and richness. Moscow is a lovely rural area and it =
> is not surprising that the shift is occurring there, also. In our area =
> -- N. California -there were literally thousands of American Robins
> through our property over a period of 48 hours in mid-January.
>
> On the opposite side of the coin, frog density has fallen off greatly =
> in other areas such as the valley in which we live. Except for an
> occasional individual, hardly any vox this year. Since January, we've =
> been recording every few weeks at a spot usually pretty rich with many =
> species of birds (32 as Kevin and Martyn can attest) but even though
> the weather has been spectacular, the density and diversity at that
> spot has fallen off to the point yesterday, that it was almost silent =
> at dawn...the first year in two decades of recording, there.
>
> Bernie
Very interesting and sad.
This would be a great if perhaps not precise way to track diversity by just=
measuring the sound. A dramatic if emotional representation of the loss =
of individuals might be made by piecing the 20 years of sound together in s=
omeway to allow one to listen to the decay of diversity and density over 20=
years. Not sure how that could be done to be truly representative. 20 y=
ears squeezed into 2 minutes might be quite striking and drive home a point=
.
| Robert Heckendorn | "The belief that there is only
| | one truth, and that oneself is
| http://marvin.ibest.uidaho.edu/~heckendo | in possession of it, is the ro=
ot
| Computer Science Dept, Univ. of Idaho | of all evil in the world."
| Moscow, Idaho, USA 83844-1010 | -- Max Born
|