Hi John,
Birding is only a sliver of the natural resource conservation work for urban
areas. Covering a 20 mile radius of Portland, Oregon USA there are more than
200 non-profit organizations, more than 200 city or regional agencies, and
somewhere around 100 federal offices chewing on natural resource conservation
issues. This does not even mention small neighborhood groups and individuals.
http://www.urbanfauna.org/files/2007-UNRD-4-27-07.pdf
While a good handful of those entities are working on biodiversity issues,
noise pollution and light pollution issues are largely ignored here.
Any recordings where they support conservation work, I would deem valuable. A
recording with natural sound content may be very important, but that is not
what makes it a 'nature sound', 'natural sound', 'nature', or 'natural
soundscape' recording. All of these are based on subjective perceptions that
usually demand a minimum of audible anthropogenic influence. These are personal
works, so there is always room for personal interpretation and innovation.
There are no strict rules where the recording serves its intended purpose, but
in general I think you will have hard time selling anthropogenic noise to a
nature sound listening audience.
I live in a city, I am surrounded by urban noise. Noise pollution has known
human health impacts, and exposure to nature is a documented antidote. My
personal reasons for nature recording include art, environmental (human)
health, and ecosystem conservation.
If I meet any one of those goals with a recording, I might be proud; however
for any of my recordings to serve all three goals, they cannot include
significant audible anthropogenic influence.
Regarding Tom's "Woodpeckers, Planes and Trains" recording, I think it is of
fine content in the context of this group. I just thought I should promote more
discussion, since he pushes an envelope on what I consider the norm.
John Hartog
--- In "John Tudor" <> wrote:
>
> www.urbanbirder.com.au is a Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) site that deals
> with birds in the 'urban' environment. I would imagine that those birds feel
> it is their 'natural' habitat.
>
> Whilst pristine recordings are very nice, I think they are becoming more
> difficult to obtain for those of us that aren't able to devote time to
> recording in remote locations. I think I'm one of that group of people that,
> having come into recording more recently, can accept the intrusion of human
> noise (and in fact humans) in what should otherwise be a more pristine sound.
> I don't think it makes a recording any less a nature recording though.
>
> John
>
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