The quick guide to soundbirding The quick guide to soundbirding Use the following links to find out more about soundbirding : Why soundbirding ? Seeing through bushes Birding at night Identification of birds in flight Sound phylogeny and dialects Divergent evolution of sounds Dialects Strengths and limits of the sound approach : what can we really expect ? Sound and raritys Pitfalls in sound identification About bird songs How do birds sing ? Difference between bird songs and human songs The specificity of a bird’s vocal organ : the syrinx Why do birds sing ? Bird songs : instinct or learning ? Imitations and odd songs Sound and spectrograms Sounds, song and calls What’s a sound Song or call ? Other bird sounds : drumming, wing sounds, bill clappering… What’s a spectrogram Why spectrograms ? The three dimensions of a spectrogram Describing sounds Duration, pitch and loudness Fundamental frequency and harmonics Sonic texture Isolated notes and sequences Phrases, series, warbles and trills Patterns in duration and pitc Tone Modulation Clarity Put it all together Spatial location Which recording device ? Basic concepts about recording Microphones and directionality Zoom Recorder Different solutions for different uses Simple recorder Shotgun microphone + recorder Parabolic dish + recorder Build your own microphone Which settings ? Softwares and audio processing RavenLite AudaCity Sound processing softwares like Tseep or Thrush Basic operations in sound processing When and where to record birds ? About me