This is certainly very noticeable. Could you find any apparent reason like =
logging nearby or new construction in the locality etc?
Sudipto
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On Fri, 6/21/13, John Crockett <> wrote:
Subject: [Nature Recordists] Solstice Chorus
To:
Date: Friday, June 21, 2013, 10:28 PM
=C2=A0
I have been noticing all spring that the number of
singing birds in our vicinity has been dramatically down
this year compared to previous years. I don't know if
this is true for the area in general or just around our
house, but the absence of many of our regular singers
(especially veerys and wood thrushes) has been conspicuous.
I've been waiting for the solstice to document it,
because I started last year to record the dawn chorus on the
morning of the solstice.
I posted a 1-minute clip on soundcloud with the result.
http://snd.sc/125LGYo
The first 30 seconds is from last year, and the second 30
seconds from this morning. I recorded for three hours both
years. These clips both come from approximately 6:00 am EDT.
The chorus usually begins around 4:15 and ends by 7:00. I
chose these clips in part because they are not masked by one
bird vocalizing very close to the microphones. Last year a
catbird and this year a robin drowned out large segments of
the recording.
Both clips were recorded using a home-built boundary array
based on EM172 capsules. The 2012 clip was recorded on a
Sony MZRH1 minidisc recorder and the 2013 clip on an Olympus
LS-11. I usually run the LS-11 on low sensitivity, and the
MZRH1 on high sensitivity, so I have raised the level of the
second recording to make them roughly comparable, probably
within a dB or two. The location and orientation of the
microphones is the same both years. The hiss is not
microphone noise but two streams that run through the
property.
I am really puzzled by this decrease in singing bird
activity this year and wonder if others are experiencing the
same thing.
John
John Crockett
Westminster, Vermont
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