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Do any listen to live bird sounds?

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AnimalJohn

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Jul 5, 2007, 8:30:23 AM7/5/07
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Have any of you put microphones out to record the birds in your yard? I
have a planter on my deck next to a feeder which I placed a wireless
microphone in to listen to the goings on and have been lucky to be able to
hear the arrival of birds. I pick up the signal on a small scanner and can
feed it to the line-in and record to my PC. Most of the time I just listen
and watch with hidden cameras that can pan a large area of my yard. I keep
a monitor on my desk that has replace frames of the same old photos. The
audio and video are wireless and can be viewed on any TV or PC in the house.

Anyone else do anything crazy like this?

AJ


Richard Brooks

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Apr 24, 2008, 5:15:43 PM4/24/08
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AnimalJohn said the following on 05/07/2007 13:30:


I've got four or five bird song LPs. Recorded bird song is a serious
resource as an early job I had as a wildlife camera assistant and the
company bought recorded sounds of female Cuckoos for example, so that
we could film a male Cuckoo in flight. I was the one with the ghetto
blaster and recorded sound.

AnimalJohn

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May 2, 2008, 12:48:32 AM5/2/08
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"Richard Brooks" <richar...@vickers-armstrongs.com>
wrote in message news:n4KdnV1S6Z8...@bt.com

I always thought of buying some pre-recorded songs but I had the equipment
so I tried it out. I often wondered if they make bird feeders with built in
mics and speakers. This year I will be trying to do more with the idea. I
want to watch the birds and listen to the individual sounds they make. Then
I want to play back some of the sounds and see if it looks they are
communicating. I would love to be a wild life camera assistant.


Richard Brooks

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May 2, 2008, 8:57:17 PM5/2/08
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AnimalJohn said the following on 02/05/2008 05:48:

I suppose it could be deemed cruel but I heard a Tawney Owl last year
- something I hadn't heard since childhood - downloaded a couple of
tracks from the Internet and burned them to CD and used a computer
speaker setup, plugged into a portable CD player. It certainly worked
as the male sat in the tree and flew over the speaker a few times in
the twilight. I stopped it after a few times.

As to the Cuckoo it does say something about the sexes when a female
hears a recorded male, flies over it once then goes away whereas the
male will fly over the recorder repeatedly?

One great way to use those tracks is to download something like the
Audacity sound editor and build an ambient track to play. It works
great with water sounds and waders.


AnimalJohn

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May 5, 2008, 7:34:31 AM5/5/08
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"Richard Brooks" <richar...@vickers-armstrongs.com>
wrote in message

news:-uOdnRZl5t3wJYbV...@bt.com

I don't know if it was cruel. Maybe the owl enjoyed hearing what he thought
might have been a friend and went to investigate.


>
> As to the Cuckoo it does say something about the sexes
> when a female hears a recorded male, flies over it once
> then goes away whereas the male will fly over the
> recorder repeatedly?

It's fun to get any reaction and learn something about the birds. I have
not been a birder in the past but I have found that they are far smarter
then I had thought.


>
> One great way to use those tracks is to download
> something like the Audacity sound editor and build an
> ambient track to play. It works great with water sounds
> and waders.

Yes, I should do that. I have several sound editors that would work well. I
think water sounds would be nice to have next to a bird bath. I plan to add
one in the yard close to all the feeders I have. Usually I just keep a large
bowl on my deck that I refill every day. They all love it including the
squirrels. Keeping it small and close makes it easy to keep fresh water
available.
I haven't seen any cuckoo birds here in New Hampshire. Mostly a smaller
variety but they are all enjoyable.


Richard Brooks

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May 5, 2008, 11:45:59 AM5/5/08
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AnimalJohn said the following on 05/05/2008 12:34:
> "Richard Brooks" <richar...@vickers-armstrongs.com>

>> One great way to use those tracks is to download
>> something like the Audacity sound editor and build an
>> ambient track to play. It works great with water sounds
>> and waders.
>
> Yes, I should do that. I have several sound editors that would work well. I
> think water sounds would be nice to have next to a bird bath. I plan to add
> one in the yard close to all the feeders I have. Usually I just keep a large
> bowl on my deck that I refill every day. They all love it including the
> squirrels. Keeping it small and close makes it easy to keep fresh water
> available.
> I haven't seen any cuckoo birds here in New Hampshire. Mostly a smaller
> variety but they are all enjoyable.

I suppose most editors do live mixing of various tracks that have been
loaded up.

This looks like a CD version of an old LP I bought in a charity shop.
http://www.seagifts.com/sounofseaaud.html

http://www.naturesongs.com/birds.html
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/songwav.html

AnimalJohn

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May 7, 2008, 2:43:22 PM5/7/08
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"Richard Brooks" <richar...@vickers-armstrongs.com>
wrote in message news:iaCdnZcYZfA...@bt.com

Thanks for those links. That should be all I will ever need. The only thing
left for me to do it install a microphone on a feeder so I can listen live.
I just need to find some sort of battery that will last for a while so I
don't have to use 115VAC if that is possible. I was thinking of a car
battery placed inside a plastic cooler at the base of the feeder pole. If I
use a sound activated mic then it will reduce the battery from draining.
Maybe I can add a small light for early evening and mornings when the early
birds show up.

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