> Interesting. Was the deer's approach and departure recorded? I'm
> wondering how quietly they move when they aren't running.
Peter,
Yes, but it was very quiet - just a slight rustling. There is lots of
other wildlife rustling at night, and squeaking. They walk very neatly
in grass.
I got a recording last year of a deer chewing cud in a similar
position.
They rarely run here because they feel safe. Occasionally I spook them
in the daytime and they then run off down the hill into the woods.
Unfortunately the camera shots didn't sync up over the grazing
recording, but you can hear it pausing for a look and listen which
they do regularly. They often come up to the camera and take a close
look. At night they can see the IR illuminator, but the only animal
this has spooked is foxes. I've got a video sequence with a fox
spotting the camera then spinning 180 and dashing off, but even they
have now got used to it.
> Do you have the recorder running 24/7? ...
Not quite but I often run early to get the dawn chorus as I am a late
riser. The mixer and recorders are in my bedroom. :-)
> ... If so, how are you coping with the resulting files? Are you
> storing it all, or are you deleting what's not interesting? And how
> are you processing it? Listening to it, or just looking at
> sonograms, etc?
Two 2 terabyte USB hard drives (one backup). I try to log daily and
wipe anything uninteresting. Some files I add "ngdel" so I can do a
clearup later using a search. If I find anything interesting like the
deer graxing, I copy this off separately. I log using Audacity
waveform(dB) and occasionally "spectrum" sonograms to look at bird
frequencies. With waveform(dB) and the RMS display I can recognise
planes, wind and rain and objects with a low S/N ratio so I skim over
these.
Recently I picked up a mammal HF call and checked it out on the
sonogram. It was at 13KHz and that is worth a brag at age 71. :-)
I do listen to whole 1 hour files (in bed) if I have time, as there is
sometimes interesting stuff out there in the distance, like the "ktonk
ktonk" bird which I'm told is a Raven but I'm not convinced. I'm
pulling in stuff over 100 metres away including the neighbour's
hounds. I've taken in my woodland pair which were on the end of 150
metre cables but I've just bought two more 416's and will reinistate
this location.
David
David Brinicombe
North Devon, UK
Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum - Ambrose Bierce
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