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Re: remembering song you hear in the field

From:

Bill Ellis

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Sun, 2 May 2004 10:56:09 -0400

Shireen:

To remember bird songs when I don't have a recorder along, I
write them down as dots (short notes) and dashes (longer notes).
The number of dots and dashes gives the beat pattern.  I raise or
lower the level of the dots/dashes to show higher or lower pitch.
I recently used this for a warbler whose song I did not
recognize.  when I got home, I found a match on the Thayer CD set
of songs - it was a variant Yellow Warbler song.

-- -- -- . . . . * * * *  (adapted for e-mail)

Bill Ellis
Eldersburg


-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland Birds & Birding
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Shireen Gonzaga
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 11:51 AM
To: 
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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