Window Birds

Last week I posted a short recording of spring peepers from my anniversary getaway with the Missus in upstate New York.  The frogs were chirping away, but they were not the only creatures making a racket.   Since it was Memorial Day weekend, it was inevitable that our peace and quiet would be encroached upon once Friday came along.  As our week passed, we were met with sounds of lots of noisy campers and the occasional lawnmower.  However, one of the more beautiful sounds was the bird life every morning when everyone else was still sleeping. There is a tree right outside our window which birds love to congregate in, which leads to a chorus of activity:

[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/sepulchra/window-birds” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=ff7700″ width=”100%” height=”81″ ]

I set the recorder up right by the window facing the tree, and I had it kick in at 4:30 AM and go out of record at 8:00 AM.  Not only did the recording turn out wonderfully, but I managed to sleep soundly all morning because I didn’t have to wake up and punch record! I love the timer on the Sound Devices recorders.  There is one edit point in the recording which I tagged.  The file above starts at 4:30 AM and then I cut in around 7:00 AM, so you could hear how the sound changed as the morning wore on.  There are also a couple of nice wing flaps in there.

I’d be grateful for any species identifications.

Recording Geek Note: Rig consists of Schoeps CMC5’s setup for MS, with the MK4 as the mid. It was all tracked to a Sound Devices 744T at 24/96.

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  1. There is a House Wren up close. In the distance are American Robin, Mourning Dove, Wood Thrush, and a trilling bird which could be one of several species.

    Later a House Sparrow joins with it’s calls. American Crow is in the distance.

  2. Wow, sounds beautiful; and great idea about the timer – will have to look into that. A voice/sound-threshold activated record function (with pre-roll record) would be even better for when trying to record specific night animals without creating hours of recording to plough through.

Michael Raphael June 4, 2010
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