My Zoom H4n Pro has lived in my camera bag for several weeks now, and I've used it to record Blyth's Reed Warbler, Nightingale, Cetti's Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat. In each case I needed to extract it from my bag, fit the windshield and fire it up. But what about having it switched on and recording throughout your time in the field? Again, a small minority of birders do this, and it is something which appealed to me. Just occasionally there will be that calling flyover or brief snatch of song that you wish you'd been able to capture for posterity, if only to replay it for ID purposes! And last year (? I think) a birder in Sussex (? I think) recorded a vismig Red-throated Pipit during a movement of Meadow Pipits. Mega! I got the impression that he routinely records vismig sessions. When you think about it, this is such an obvious application of digital recording technology that I'm surprised it's not already the norm. I'm sure it soon will be...
Anyway, finally I have rigged up my recorder for constant in-the-field action. Following some helpful tips from one or two keen recordists, I trawled eBay for potentially useful (and cheap) bits and made a couple of speculative purchases. Thankfully, bolting it all together worked a treat...
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| The necessary bits. I think the bolt next to the tripod adaptor actually came with the strap mount, but whatever, it all fits together nicely. I attach the lanyard to my camera bag via a keyring. If the worst happened, at least the recorder won't hit the deck. |
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| Fully assembled daymig kit. |
And this is what it all looks like when attached to my camera bag...
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| The top plate on the strap mount clip is adjustable, and I now rotate it so the recorder is more vertically oriented. |
It is still quick and easy to access the camera. Oh, and it's worth mentioning that once or twice I've had a dog run up and give it an inquisitive look...
So, my procedure is to carefully note the time when I switch it on, plus the times of any interesting 'sound events', so that I can quickly zero in on them when reviewing the recording later. The simple act of walking along is massively noisy, so forget any notion of going through it like a nocmig session. And that's it really. Very early days for me obviously, but even so I do have a couple of examples to share...
The first is a surprise Cetti's Warbler at East Bexington, which gave a burst of 'machine-gun' call as I walked past the Sallow Clump of Joy. I never saw the bird, but that Cetti's is the only one I've encountered at East Bex. At the start of the recording you can hear my footsteps, which stop abruptly when the initial call finally registers on my brain...
And this next example from Wednesday captures a snippet of Yellow Wagtail action, also at East Bexington...
I cannot wait to encounter something really exciting using the recorder like this. What better way to verify an unphotographed flyover? But even if that doesn't happen, I foresee plenty of audio entertainment this autumn...
Mine would pick up a lot of grunts and "ow's" followed by plenty of gas emissions as I wander the byways. But I often wish I could identify more bird calls. I've heard one or two whilst out with an enthusiastic birding buddy, that still has us scratching our heads.
ReplyDeleteThat's the idea of it Dave, to nail those bird sounds which would otherwise slip through the fingers...
DeleteRe the grunts, gas emissions etc, well, I tend not to make a note of the time when they occur.
Also does away with the necessity of taking your eyes off that rare bird in order to write a description in your notebook, just say what you see and submit it along with your write up for the rarities committee. Just try not to fart in excitement - nobody needs to hear that ;)
ReplyDeleteUnless a fart coincided exactly with a crucial call, you could edit it out. Obviously, in order to avoid accusations of fraud, you would need to explain this to the rarities committee by means of a brief note along the lines of 'loud, rolling, fruity one edited out at 15 seconds' and suchlike.
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