I once had a situation where I used a cardboard home made parabolic (cone)
that I taped to my walkman to get some bird sounds. It worked better than
just using the microphone of the walkman. This is cheap (and so is the
recording) but it collects the sound you want better than if one just uses
the microphone without any help. It seems to collect only the sounds of
where one points it but it has to be constructed as a funnel. Or if you
have a mic, just tape the cone around it.

Hope this helps!
Libor

----------
> From: Christopher Hill <cehill at u.washington.edu>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Cc: bergjoan at africa.nicoh.com
> Subject: Bird Sound Recording (was Re: Trpoical/Couch's Kingbirds)
> Date: October 26, 1997 3:01 PM
>
>
> On Sun, 26 Oct 1997, Joan Bergstrom wrote:
>
> > I would like to get a small tape recorder to capture some of the sounds

> > and songs of the smaller birds that I can hear but not see. I'd like
to
> > use it as a learning tool to bring home and compare to the Thayer's CD
I
> > use.
> >
> > However, I have no clue what would constitute a smaller recorder that
> > would be effective. Also no clue regarding prices.
> >
> > I'm not gung ho on recording and playing back birdsound in the field.
> > It seems all too invasive.
> >
> > Any Tweets who have used recorders of small size effectively to record?
> > Would you share your experiences?
> >
> > Joan Bergstrom, Pocatello, Id
>
> There are fine recorders that are walkman size - the limiting factor is
> the microphone. If you just hold the tape recorder up so that the built
> in microphone can pick up the bird sounds you will get terrible
recordings
> no matter how good the tape recorder.
>
> The key to getting good bird recordings is to increase the volume of the
> target bird call while decreasing the relative volume of the other noises
> out there. There are two ways to do this: 1) convince the bird to perch
> on your microphone, or 2) get a directional microphone, get as close to
> the target bird as possible, and point the mike right at it.
>
> The best "shotgun" type directional mikes are in the $500-100 range, but
> you can find cheap, somewhat directional mikes for about 60 bucks that
> will help a LOT over using the built in mike. Although they're not
> precisely defined, look for the following terms. "Cardioid" is better
than
> "omnidirectional," "super-cardioid" is better than "cardioid," and
> "shotgun" is better than "super-cardioid."
>
> Again, if you want to go real cheap, spend your money on the mike and not
> the tape recorder. The tape recorder won't make a noticeable difference,
> the mike will. If you're going to spend big money, then and only then do
> you need to think about the recorder.
>
> If you want an overview of the options at the serious amateur and
> professional level, check out Cornell's Bird Sound Recording Equipment
> page:
>
> http://www.ornith.cornell.edu/LNS/LNSEquipment/equipment.html
>
> Good luck,
>
> Chris Hill
> Everett, WA
> cehill at u.washington.edu
>
>
>