AlexHenry Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Here is a voice memo I took of an owl I heard tonight. Sounded too low + slow for a Pygmy-Owl, so I think it is a Long-eared Owl, but would like confirmation as that is flagged as rare on eBird. Sorry for all the crickets and frogs in the recording, but the owl can be heard best about 0:20 - 0:35 in the recording, I find I can hear it best with no headphones but putting my ear near the speaker on my phone/computer. 213695081.m4a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jefferson Shank Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 I can't hear the owl you're talking about. At least not enough to make positive ID. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Unfortunately, I'm with JS. Frogs and crickets all the way through. Remind us of your location, please.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 I can hear, it but I do not think it is identifiable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexHenry Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 Location is Alameda County CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexHenry Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 4 hours ago, Kevin said: I can hear, it but I do not think it is identifiable. Fair enough. I'm gonna have to figure out a better way to make sound recordings of birds. I could hear it better in reality and I'm pretty confident of the ID but not 100% sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 19 minutes ago, AlexHenry said: Fair enough. I'm gonna have to figure out a better way to make sound recordings of birds. I could hear it better in reality and I'm pretty confident of the ID but not 100% sure. This is something I've been wanting to try. How did you make this recording, and what do you hope to try? Even knowing what not to do is useful. I think The Bird Nuts recently suggest using a camera to capture the sound by recording a video. I've never made a video with my camera and had no clue it would record the sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexHenry Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 19 minutes ago, Charlie Spencer said: This is something I've been wanting to try. How did you make this recording, and what do you hope to try? Even knowing what not to do is useful. I think The Bird Nuts recently suggest using a camera to capture the sound by recording a video. I've never made a video with my camera and had no clue it would record the sound. I just used the "voice memos" app on my smartphone, which creates .m4a files, apparently .wav files are better because they are not compressed. Here's an eBird article about it, wish I'd read this a few days ago: https://ebird.org/camerica/news/open-mic-a-better-and-simpler-way-to-record-bird-sounds-with-smartphones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 I use my camera. I just take a video, and it records the sound very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phalarope713 Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 I use Voice Record Pro, a free app that seems to work pretty well. I then edit the files on audacity and upload them to ebird. On audacity you can isolate certain parts of the file (such as owl hoots in this instance) and amplify them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexHenry Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 1 hour ago, Phalarope713 said: I use Voice Record Pro, a free app that seems to work pretty well. I then edit the files on audacity and upload them to ebird. On audacity you can isolate certain parts of the file (such as owl hoots in this instance) and amplify them. Believe it or not I just downloaded that app today... I have not downloaded audacity, nor have I ever used it before, so that may be a learning process... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipperatl Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 I removed all the crickets and frogs. When I boosted the calls it distorted them too much though. I think it is good for Long-eared. 213695081_01.LEOWwav.wav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipperatl Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 18 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said: This is something I've been wanting to try. How did you make this recording, and what do you hope to try? Even knowing what not to do is useful. I think The Bird Nuts recently suggest using a camera to capture the sound by recording a video. I've never made a video with my camera and had no clue it would record the sound. I use this mic with my phone, and fuzzy windscreen over the mic. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004XC6KHS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 5 hours ago, chipperatl said: I removed all the crickets and frogs. When I boosted the calls it distorted them too much though. I think it is good for Long-eared. 213695081_01.LEOWwav.wav 8.63 MB · 1 download I cannot here anything now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birding Boy Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 I can't either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipperatl Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 It’s there, but it is extremely soft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melierax Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 It really reminds me of a Flammulated Owl, but I don't think that's possible this time of year in your area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexHenry Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 24 minutes ago, Melierax said: It really reminds me of a Flammulated Owl, but I don't think that's possible this time of year in your area. They might migrate through my area, but that would be in May, and they are almost never observed in migration - I think there is one record for my county, from May. I was wondering that myself too though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexHenry Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 @chipperatl thanks so much for your wizardry with removing those crickets and frogs. Do you mind if I put that on eBird? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipperatl Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 @AlexHenry no problem at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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