And just before the timer goes off, a Cassin’s Vireo’s leisurely one sided conversation starts. Two Oregon Juncos twitter, a pair feeding together. It’s almost certainly one in the Black-throated Gray’s repertoire, though the density of Douglas Firs would suggest a Hermit Warbler, and only four days ago a wave of migrating Townsend’s Warblers flooded the canopy. A Red-breasted Sapsucker at a nest? Too quiet, and I’ve heard nothing else to substantiate that. And another following it, possibly a dependent juvenile. Maybe the old trees flaking bark is an attractive feature. Now a minute into the count, finally a new bird the thin airy “seep” of a Brown Creeper nearby. Arranged in transects of 12 permanent points through contiguous habitat and combined with vegetation data collected with birds’ use in mind, point count data can give a quick view of a location’s avifauna or a long term record of population trends. Point counts, in this case five minutes long with a distance to bird estimate, are an ideal standardized way to collect data. The number of breeding adults is an accurate measure of an avian population’s health and I’m here to take that measurement. Reproduction is the foremost goal of every bird here, and singing males and territorial birds represent a generation being produced. This is orderly avian communication during the busiest time of year. A clan of Steller’s Jays, who’ve been keeping watch on the owls, give “took-took” contact calls, in tempo and tone matching the Pygmys’ “poot”. A Mountain Quail’s “quark” song begins to match the tempo of the owls’. These small and ravenous predators are something feared by songbirds. And what, more than hormones, has agitated the grosbeaks, are two Northern Pygmy-Owls, their long carrying toots, echoing back and forth across the ravine. The lilting mutter song of a Western Tanager compliments them, and a very distant American Robin adds a thrushy vibrato background. And another to the west a few hundred meters.
#CALLNOTE WILL STOP IN THE MIDDLE FULL#
Two Black-headed Grosbeak males singing full volume, interrupting each other. As I start the count, I hear the cacophony of bird song below me, of birds I passed and already counted on the way up the ridge. And it’s quiet, in contrast to the dry live oak and manzanita chaparral nearby. The mature mixed conifer-oak forest is humid and dark after a late spring rain. I am completely satisfied with the result.I’m at the last point count station of the day, near the saddle of a ridge, at the top of a draw. This makes it very easy to make sure in editing that myself and everyone else is at a nice, even volume. When it's time to edit I use Audacity to compress both my own audio and the Fraps recording's audio. I don't completely mute it because it's good to have some volume, but it's important for it to be low because when so many people are talking a louder game can make it all incomprehensible.
#CALLNOTE WILL STOP IN THE MIDDLE WINDOWS#
Using the speaker icon in the bottom right corner of Windows I usually set the game audio to 5% of normal on a system level. Fraps records game and Teamspeak audio while Audacity records mine.
Whatever the reason is for this happening, I generally avoid things that aren't in my experience reliable tools. This leaves me in an awful situation where I'm trying to fix audio settings instead of taking part in a group LP. Aside from VoiceMeter being generally confusing it also sometimes randomly changes its own settings in the middle of the recording. If you can get it to work then this is pretty much the best way to handle things.įor whatever reason this frequently malfunctions for me. I've tried the Dxtory and VoiceMeter combo to isolate the teamspeak audio onto its own channel.