Comments for Listening Earth Blog

Comment on An unexpected Barn Owl rescue in India by Vishwajeet nikumbh

Vishwajeet nikumbh — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:20:55 +0000

Great job! I also work in this field and have rescued a juvenile owl. I hope all people understand the condition of Indian nature. Vishwajeet, India,(Jalgaon).

Comment on Recording nature sounds, with Andrew Skeoch by andrew skeoch

andrew skeoch — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:20:36 +0000

@ Saby:
Thanks for reminding me that I haven’t committed my thoughts on this issue yet!! Oops!!
I’ll reflect on this a little and post something soon. Drop by in the near future, I’ll likely link it as a feature blog.
Andrew

Comment on What is in a song? – Blue Wren song slowed down by andrew skeoch

andrew skeoch — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:12:41 +0000

@ Julian:
There are two technical issues in making recordings capturing higher frequencies than those normally audible to even an excellent set of human ears:
1. A sound recorder with a high sample rate. Standard CD sample rate is 44.1/sec, so only frequencies up to 22kHz will be recorded. Many modern digital recorders will encode at higher sample rates, upto 96/sec in many cases. So that is not a big deal.
2. A microphone capable of capturing high freq sounds. This is where it gets expensive. A device such as Sennheiser’s MKH 800 will record up to 50kHz, but a single mic will set you back $3000 or so.
All this would be useful for insects and bat sounds, but I doubt any mammal or bird would vocalise that high, as they don’t have the anatomical wherewithall to do it.
Andrew

Comment on An unexpected Barn Owl rescue in India by jatin

jatin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:19:52 +0000

I’ve gone thru your web-site, interesting work done by u ………. and gr8 sounds recorded …….. it gives a true jungle feel when u listen to it …….. hope u have a gr8 trip in Orccha – india!!! Keep on recording more of nature!!!

Jatin,
Mumbai
INDIA

Comment on Recording nature sounds, with Andrew Skeoch by Saby Reyes-Kulkarni

Saby Reyes-Kulkarni — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:13:30 +0000

Thanks so much! Question: in the very last line of your post you mention that you offer your thoughts “here” on the fieldcraft necessary to make great recordings but there’s no link or reference. Could you direct us to where those thoughts are? Thanks again. This is a huge help.

Comment on Beautiful nature sounds from an ephemeral lake in the desert. by Anna Montebello

Anna Montebello — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:39:42 +0000

Hello
Firstly, what wonderful photography.
I am a part time painter and your photograph of Pine Lake at Dusk has inspired me. I would love to paint it. It wouldn’t be an exact copy just inspiration for one of my works. I’d really appreciate your permission to use the photograph for this purpose.
Thank you
Anna

Comment on Late Night Visitor – A Tawny Frogmouth (photos) by Julian

Julian — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:39:45 +0000

Wonderful occurrence. I once had a Tawny fly close over my head to a low branch in front of me while camping, in the near darkness. The whole thing was eerie, I didn’t even know I’d heard anything in particular, more a sensation, so I turned the torch on and there it was, looking and waiting. It was waiting for moths around the remaining fire but all it got was my flash photography!

Your photos are a great series, nice of it to pose.

I listened to the track immediately above from the Evening album – magic! Intending intend to buy it, but my questions – is this excerpt a compilation or did you really hear all those owls in the one place at the one time? And on the album is there a means of identifying the calls you hear? (I thought I heard boobooks, barking and powerful owls, but would like to check this and know what the other calls where that I missed).

Comment on What is in a song? – Blue Wren song slowed down by Julian

Julian — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:23:39 +0000

This is fascinating, thank-you! (Particularly for someone with dud high-frequency hearing that means I can’t hear the detail in high-pitched calls, even when I can hear them at all).

My thought and question is – I wonder how much extra info there is in the ultrasonic spectrum that doesn’t get captured with 20-20000 audio gear? Putting it another way, when slowed down you can hear no high frequencies of course, I wonder what higher frequencies are actually there and what it would sound like slowed down then? Could you make up some gear to capture say up to 50,000Hz? It would be an interesting experiment, though I don’t know anything about whether small birds use or can hear ultrasonic frequencies.

Comment on A beautiful nature sound recording – Pied Butcherbirds in the Australian Outback by Anne Ringrose

Anne Ringrose — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 09:15:18 +0000

was listening to our local Grey Butcherbirds in Sydney’s north, (who are nothing to be snezed at in the song dept!) and remembered these amazing birds from a long ago trip to QLD. So found this on the computer…….thank you!

Comment on The most beautiful birdsong? by Bird migration on Texel island | dearkitty1

Bird migration on Texel island | dearkitty1 — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 11:15:58 +0000

[...] What is the most beautiful songbird in the world? If we mean ‘musical to our ears’, then surely one of our favourites would be the Malabar Whistling Thrush, Myophonus horsfieldii, of India: here. [...]