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. > > > =================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 > ========================================================= > > =================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 =========================================================