Birding by Microphone

I don't quite 'get' birding, but pretty much every naturalist I know 'does.'  Personally, give me a ten-lined June bug over a Canadian Warbler anyday.  

Still, those who are interested in birding are probably the most active conservationists on the planet.  The time they spend outdoors makes them keenly aware of the changes occuring to both the rural and urban environment that most people don't notice as they speed by at 50 km/hr.

Here is an idea to expand birding into the night.  A simple microphone system (cost perhaps $50.00) that can be hooked up to an old computer to record calls of birds migrating at night.  Developed by William Evans, formerly with Cornell University, the microphone is built from a flower pot, a dinner plate, some Saran Wrap, and a couple of cheap electronic components that apparently can be assembled in just a couple of hours.  Dr. Evans website, click here, provides step by step details.

The website also provides some simple software and the recordings of bird calls (spectrograms) that make the system work.  The one shortfall is that the records are specific to birds of eastern and central N. America.  However, it should not be too hard to input the spectrograms of western species. Anyone interested?

The tireless work of birders in recording bird sightings has created one of the best databases for following bird species abundances over time.  The US has just released a federally sponsored report on bird populations.  Much of the data is not good.  I'll post this tomorrow.

Hat Tip: Wired Science

Photo Credit: Williams Evans.  Photo of assembled bird microphone.