[birdky] Old Dog - New Tricks, hearing birds for the first Time.
- From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, albirds@xxxxxxxxxxx, birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx,ARBIRD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, marvdavs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 22:00:43 EDT
Birders,
Birders that know me and have been in the field with me, know I can't hear
most higher pitched bird calls. I have nerve deafness brought about when I
was young and worked at running a saw in a mill. There is a whole section of
my hearing where the nerves are dead and no amount of volume nor even getting
close to the source allows me to hear them. It has been that way all my
birding life and I have never heard most warbler songs and many of the other
high pitched notes.
There is always a good side and a bad side to any handicap. My silver lining
was that on Big Days and such I can hear low notes such as owls long before
others as I'm not hearing the leaves rustle and insects. There are even other
benefits such as when I can't hear a bird I have to stay back and search as
others listen and look for other ticks on the list. In my searches I usually
add a species or two that are not singing but I do miss some birds. Probably
the most rewarding point is that it forces me to be more alert to details and
movement; I became highly visually oriented to make up for the hearing loss.
Over the years, I had talked about how nice it would be if someone would come
up with a unit that would take in high pitched sounds and drop them into my
hearing range. Well, it has been done. I have pretty fair hearing in normal
ranges and I've seen people with all the new digital hearing aids and I have
kept up with most of the advances but none did just what I wanted. At $1000
an ear it was not a mistake I could afford to make.
I recently read about a new device and ordered one. It was developed by a
birder for birders. It does not appreciably interfere with your normal
hearing and it has a pair of small ear phones with mikes attached on each
piece for directional hearing. It takes in only the high tones, lowers them
by 1/2 - 1/3 or 1/4 according to your loss, you can pick which works best in
the field. Fortunately I can hear all the birds songs I've never been able to
hear at the first level. It hangs on your belt and you do have a small amount
of control for volume and you can switch it on and off as you need to or
leave it on all the time you are in the field. You can balance the sound from
ear to ear for directional adjustment just as you adjust the diopter on your
field glasses for each eye.
As many of you know I love birding the tropics because I can hear most of the
birds down there. It seems low pitched sound travels best in that atmosphere
and the heavy large leaves. With this device it sound like you are in the
tropics. I was amazed at all the insects and such that I just plain do not
hear. It was a sensory overload at first but I am getting use to it. In
playing with it, I am finding out what to expect and I am really pleased with
what it is doing. It is a whole new world that I've been dropped into and I
like it.
When I got the device, I immediately put on my Peterson Tapes. I had always
thought I was being cheated by Roger as most of my tape was blank;o) Well, to
my surprise they are not blank, I could hear every note of every song on the
tape. It does make some of the other calls I now know a bit harder to ID
because some songs I thought were made up of 4 or 5 notes, I now hear as 10
or 12 notes. It will be a long and hard task to learn all these new songs but
with Mark, Mike and others helping I might get a few of them knocked off.
The morning after getting the device, I walked out back and heard something
different. A little searching found a Yellow-rumped Warbler with its head
thrown back. My first time ever to hear one sing. On Sunday, I could hear the
incessant whine of the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers that everyone complains about
and even the fussing of Chickadees. I found 6 singing Grasshopper Sparrows by
myself, no longer do I have to stand by and watch this little sparrow throw
open its mouth, swell up and I not hear a thing. I'm sure advances will be
made in this field quickly just like computers but I jumped on this unit and
I am happy with the results.
Can an old dog (Coot) learn new tricks? I don't know but this old dog is
digging and howling;o) I'm just learning all the ins and outs but will answer
any questions for anyone or you can just go to the web page listed below. You
can take an on line test. It sold me.
I have no monetary interest in plugging this device, other than to help
others to a place they might not have been or return to a place they once
enjoyed. If interested go to the following site:
<A
HREF="http://www.naturesound.com/songfinder/songfinder.html";>http://www.naturesound.com/songfinder/songfinder.html</A>
PS. They have another model that goes even farther in that you can hear bat
location calls and the very highest pitched insect calls.
Good Birding!!!
Jeff R. Wilson
OL' COOT / TLBA
Bartlett Tenn.
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