Confirm Barred Owl

[dragon49]

I already reported as such, but do the two singular calls, one at the beginning of the recording and one at the end, better represent a Great Horned Owl?

Recorded this evening in Boynton Beach, Florida:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/507595311
 

[Bird-Boys]

Barred, I think.

Edited November 27, 2022 by Bird-Boys

[Birds are cool]

Agreed, barred

[Birds are cool]

With the new recorder?

[dragon49]

14 minutes ago, Birds are cool said:

With the new recorder?

Actually, no, this one was from my iPhone.  I was simultaneously recording with my Trascam Dr-05X, but I had neglected to set the date and time on the unit, so it's going to take me a while to find the corresponding one.  If it's superior, or has more calls, I'll upload it as well and bump the thread with a link.

Edited November 27, 2022 by dragon49

[dragon49]

1 hour ago, Birds are cool said:

With the new recorder?

Here is a clip taken with the Tascam.  I muted a section of the audio, as I was cursing under my breath when a car pulled up, because I was worried the people would interfere with the call.  I could have alternatively deleted that section of the audio, however, I thought it better to be true to the science by keeping the exact time between the two calls:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/507645241

[Charlie Spencer]

6 hours ago, dragon49 said:

Here is a clip taken with the Tascam.  I muted a section of the audio, as I was cursing under my breath when a car pulled up, because I was worried the people would interfere with the call.  I could have alternatively deleted that section of the audio, however, I thought it better to be true to the science by keeping the exact time between the two calls:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/507645241

If I correctly remember, Macaulay would prefer you edit the recording to remove extraneous sounds or long pauses between calls.  Check their Help pages but I remember them saying to edit to leave a couple of blank seconds between bird sounds.

[dragon49]

5 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said:

If I correctly remember, Macaulay would prefer you edit the recording to remove extraneous sounds or long pauses between calls.  Check their Help pages but I remember them saying to edit to leave a couple of blank seconds between bird sounds.

I haven't seen that.

From this FAQ:

https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48001064298-sound-recording-tips

I was trying to adhere to the philosophy of this passage:
 

Make longer recordings

The most valuable recordings are ones that capture many calls or songs, or capture the variation of calls and songs. If you are in a good situation, it is worth recording for several minutes. However, also consider whether you have the opportunity to get closer or otherwise take action to obtain a better recording. If so, you may wish to end your first recording after a minute or two and try for a better opportunity. The better the quality of the recording, the more worthwhile it is to keep going. And the longer you record, the more likely it is that your subject will do something interesting!

My thoughts were that had I shortened the dead time between the two calls, this would have incorrectly represented a variation of the Barred Owl call.

There appears to be something consistent about these calls, as if you listen to both of my recordings, there is something like a 20 second delay between the first and second calls.  Then, there was silence for a while.

 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by dragon49

[Aidan B]

1 hour ago, dragon49 said:

I haven't seen that.

From this FAQ:

https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48001064298-sound-recording-tips

I was trying to adhere to the philosophy of this passage:
 

Make longer recordings

The most valuable recordings are ones that capture many calls or songs, or capture the variation of calls and songs. If you are in a good situation, it is worth recording for several minutes. However, also consider whether you have the opportunity to get closer or otherwise take action to obtain a better recording. If so, you may wish to end your first recording after a minute or two and try for a better opportunity. The better the quality of the recording, the more worthwhile it is to keep going. And the longer you record, the more likely it is that your subject will do something interesting!

My thoughts were that had I shortened the dead time between the two calls, this would have incorrectly represented a variation of the Barred Owl call.

There appears to be something consistent about these calls, as if you listen to both of my recordings, there is something like a 20 second delay between the first and second calls.  Then, there was silence for a while.

 

 

You were doing the correct thing here, when submitting recordings to the Macaulay library you never want to delete the pauses between the recordings. Longer recordings are always better. 

[Charlie Spencer]

@dragon49, that's a great article for recording.  At the end of it, there's a link to one for editing after you've recorded.

https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48001064341

It included this paragraph, which would apply to your vocalizations:

6. Keep it continuous

If you have made a long, continuous recording of a bird that vocalizes infrequently (such as an owl), be sure to keep the entire recording. There is valuable information in the silence between songs—information that is lost if a continuous recording is chopped up into many short segments.

The exception is if your continuous recording has significant interruptions, such as loud walking, extreme handling noise, or passing vehicles that are louder than the target species. If you wish, those sections can be removed and replaced with 1 second of silence.

Edited November 27, 2022 by Charlie Spencer

[Birds are cool]

@dragon49, if you want, I can edit this recording.

[dragon49]

4 hours ago, Birds are cool said:

@dragon49, if you want, I can edit this recording.

Ty - I have some basic Audacity skills and am also happy with what I uploaded.
 

For the record, I amplified the audio to get the calls recognizable.  I try to avoid this with Ebird audio uploads, but it was necessary in this case.