[TN-Bird] Re: Old Dog - New Tricks, hearing birds for the first Time.

I can only second Jeff's words.  He expresses the experience with more
eloquence than I can manage.  When my toy arrived I had not heard a
chickadee in what seems forever.  When the Songfinder is on, the world
truley seems a noisey place!  I apologize to all those folks I have birded
with for jingling change in my pockets while you were trying to hear
birdsongs.  I  had no idea how distracting that must have been.

Dan Mooney
Knoxville
----- Original Message -----
From: <OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <albirds@xxxxxxxxxxx>; <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<ARBIRD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <marvdavs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 10:00 PM
Subject: [TN-Bird] Old Dog - New Tricks, hearing birds for the first Time.


> 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.natu
resound.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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=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------- 
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
        jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx      (423) 764-3958
=========================================================

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