Hi Lyn,

I'll second the recommendations from Marc Hoffman and Bud Anderson posted on Tweeters- I attended Martyn Stewart's nature sound recording workshop in Seattle. Martyn is a real pro and a great guy, as a complete newbie I learned a lot. http://naturesound.org/?page_id=55

For recording sounds while actively birding I recommend a handheld recorder with built-in mics. Carrying a shotgun mic or a parabolic dish (and headphones) in the field is cumbersome and interferes with my birding activities too much. I usually want to have my camera with me too.

I started with an Olympus LS-11 with just the built-in mics- it fits in a shirt pocket and has decent battery life. I also carry a small flexible tripod so I can set it up and walk away.

The Sony PCM D50 is well regarded in the sound geek community for its quiet preamps and mics but it's a little more expensive. And it's a little larger than pocket size. But if I had to buy another handheld recorder I'd probably choose the Sony over the Olympus just for the probable increase in sound quality.

There is a yahoo nature recording group that has some good information (and a lot of mind-numbing tech-talk): http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists/

As far as eliminating background noise, it's difficult to find a location without a distant highway roar, planes, leaf blowers, etc. I recommend driving as far into SE Oregon as possible. :)

Also try Sunday mornings before sunrise. Sometimes you get lucky and can record a few minutes without any planes or traffic. I've managed to get brief noise-free (or at least noise reduced) recordings at places like Tualatin River NWR, Ridgefield and Tualatin Hills Nature Park.

Also, there was a segment on Oregon Field Giude recently about nature sound recording: http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/segments/view/1803

I have some recordings here- the older ones are with the Olympus LS-11:

http://soundcloud.com/varied-hush

I hope this helps, if you have any questions let me know,

Dwight Porter
Portland, Oregon
dinpdx AT yahoo.com