Big Boy's Toys - II

I was meaning to get myself a decent microphone for my bird sound recording projects for quite some time now. For various reasons (mostly monetary) I was keeping it pending. Finally I got round to researching on the subject ahead of the winter birding season for 2011-12. After much research - mostly around the name of Sennheiser - I started getting suggestions that Rode is not such a bad brand name to go with.

Soon I realised that it is fairly easy to get it here in India. Rode is basically an Australian brand. And Sennheiser is German. Finally I short listed a supplier in Madras who turned out to be the main importer cum distributor for Rode and Sennheiser products in India. The sales guy was very friendly and answered each and every question of mine very patiently. The Calcutta guy Bobby (from whom I had bought my Edirol earlier) quoted a price that is 20 per cent higher than the Madras price, including courier.

After much deliberations in my mind I got this last month. Videmic Pro. From the Madras supplier. Visual Media Works. I must say they are very professional in their approach and execution. I shall wholeheartedly recommend them.

I was looking for a directional microphone basically. The best that the world uses for this is the Sennheiser ME 67 with K6. I realised that if I got someone to bring it for me from America it will cost me close to Rs 50,000. In India a more stripped down version without the windshield etc would cost me more than 75k. So I thought I would buy that when NatGeo commissions me.

I started looking at shotgun mics and here Rode and Sennheiser both have their offerings. The shotgun mics can serve the dual purpose of being attached to both my Edirol as well as my 7D. So I narrowed down my choice to the Rode which has excellent review from real users.

I am fairly happy with the mic. I got a Deadcat windshield for the mic within a week. This view up there is without the windshield.

Juvenile Common Hawk Cuckoo

The other day on Xeno-Canto I uploaded this call of a juvenile common hawk cuckoo that I recorded on 11th December 2011. As of now this is the only available call of a juvenile common hawk cuckoo on the X-C database.



A bit on Piyali

On Saturday December 10th, 2011 my friend Partha and I went to Piyali Island with our families. It was to be a weekend birding trip. I have been to Piyali several times before. I like this place because it offers mangrove variety of avian fauna within a reasonable driving distance from Calcutta. And it also offers reasonably priced accomodation. This is a difficult combination in Sunderban.

Oriental Bird Images has picked up the image of the bird and it is displayed on their website.



The story of the sighting and recording
At the resort we found this juvenile common hawk cuckoo making this call non-stop. By non-stop I mean literally non-stop. The bird kept calling like this throughout the day on Saturday and then again we saw it on Sunday (when I recorded the call). This stopped only with the sun set. On Saturday I was more busy observing the bird and didn't record because there was a lot of environmental noise in that area. But on Sunday we saw it again and then recorded. There is still some environmental noise (someone grinding spices in an iron container with a hammer - in Bengali we call it haman/dista) and I have tried to eliminate it as much as possible.

The bird was hanging around with the jungle babblers which are plentiful there on that island. And soon we realised that it was actually begging for food from its foster parents. And then we saw that amazing sight of a jungle babbler feeding it. Both Partha and I missed that incredible shot because it lasted for only a few seconds.

I hope we will be able to see this sight again in life. Till then just a profile shot will have to do.

Big Boy's Toys

That's my latest toy. I have been owning this for a few years now. My nephew Gublai had brought this from the US on my request. But ever since I hardly ever put it to real use. But now it is my regular companion on all my trips. You capture the way points as you go to a new destination. Later you upload them on a software and it processes the data and plots the points on a google map. So you know exactly where you went. Future travelers can go to those places in my footsteps.
Like this I have created a map for going to Piyali in the Sunderbans. Another map I created was in the water ways of Sunderbans after my visit there. Yesterday we went to Kharibari and created a GPS map of the route to that place. Today went to Nalban and again I created a guide for future birders to the area.
The device has a tremendous potential here in India. But unfortunately in India Garmin is right now selling only its automotive machines with maps.
By the way - that image was taken on our rooftop and that's my coordinate on the face of the globe.
The Foretrex 101 has one handicap. It cannot be easily connected to a computer. So what I do is after coming home I manually write down all the latitudes and longitudes and then create a CSV file out of it. It's very simple really.
If any traveller reading this article wants to get any of my maps just send me an email. I will send the map as an application which you need to download in your computer and then view it.
I am yet to work out how to embed the map into this website. I think it is possible. But I will need to spend a lot of time exploring various things that I kind of half understand. Therefore I am keeping it pending :-)

The Friendly Neighbourhood Barn Owl

Pencha koy penchani, khasa tor chenchani.
I have been hearing this call in my neighbourhood for a few days now.

It's not an alien sound. I have heard it before. In all probability it's a barn owl, as there is a house almost next door where they nest on the rooftop. I have seen them in the past. Heard them too. But never seen them making this sound.
I recorded the call on Tuesday, 20th December 2011 in the evening after coming back home. Wanted to upload it on Xeno-Canto but it wouldn't allow me as Tyto Alba was not listed in their website as an Asian bird at all.
I put this problem up on the forum. They accepted it as a lapse and corrected the situation and I uploaded it yesterday. So officially this is the first barn owl call uploaded on xeno-canto from Asia.
I also saw the bird last evening making the call. It was sitting in a hole on the parapet of Bristi's house. I used a flash light to assure myself about the identity of the bird.
However, I am not too sure if this is a juvenile or adult. The repeatitive nature of the call leads me to believe it is a juvenile or fledgling one begging for food. It keeps repeating this call throughout the evening and night.
Eliminating the environmental noise is the biggest challenge in this recording. Getting the sound is not so difficult.