Bill Ellis described almost exactly how I take paper notes of bird songs -
that is, to make  a series of dots and dashes with the height illustrating
the relative pitch. Sometimes I also use marks, roughly like the typed
characters / or \, or more elaborate shapes, to indicate tones that are
changing pitch within a single note, which happens a LOT in bird songs as
well as human speech.

Steve Sanford
Randallstown MD
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shireen Gonzaga" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 11:51 AM
Subject: [MDOSPREY] remembering song you hear in the field


It happens every year. Warblers reduce me to tears and give me a major
inferiority complex.

OK, here's my super-dumb question. When you hear a song in the field (and of
course, the bird's not visible or all you can see is its little butt), how
do you make a mental note of it, so you can try to identify it from "birding
by ear"? Do you scribble down little symbols that describe the song? Do you
have any memorization tricks?

My nightmare has begun. This morning, I'm lying in bed trying to wake up and
I hear this little voice. Sounds like the beginning of a Nashville (which I
determined from listening to 'More Birding by Ear'), but then it drops off
without a downward trill.

Please help me. I don't think I can stand another year of having my fragile
ego crushed once again by those little monsters.

Thanks,
  shireen, very afraid of warblers


--
Shireen Gonzaga/Baltimore, MD


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