My beautiful cellphone--the little one with the earphones next to it Something very exciting is happening as I type this post. I'm live-blogging this seminal event in my birding life so I can share with you the thrill and the anticipation of what should make me a better birder in the field! Details, you ask? Here they are:
At this very second, I am loading bird songs from the Stokes Eastern birds CDs onto my new Sony Ericcson Walkman 580i cellphone... with the idea that... I will be able to use my phone like a BirdJam!
The third CD's tracks are almost finished copying to my phone's memory chip. I just got the phone a few weeks ago, but I didn't get the extra memory chip until last night, so you can experience right along with me the latest in my long series of hare-brained schemes!
Okay--I've just unplugged the phone from my computer. I will now attempt to access the bird songs through the Walkman player option on the phone.... I pressed the little W button, and here's the menu... Oh wait! I need to put on my little earphone things, so everyone in the cubeys around me remains unaware of this little non-work-related activity....
OH MY GOD I'm listening to the American Bittern!!!!
Okay--I need to calm down! Someone will notice that I look awake and realize I'm NOT doing my work!
Admittedly, there are some drawbacks -- Lang Elliott's voice being the big one. I don't have the BirdJam software which is supposed to remove his voice and organize the tracks and stuff like that. But OMG! I can just start playing the call with the volume on low, then increase it for the actual call! (P.S.--I love Lang Elliott.)
So here's the plan:
1. On break (10:50 a.m. Eastern time), I will take the phone outside with me and Niki (and our coffee), and I'll see just how loud I can play the calls on speaker phone.
2. After work, I'll stand near the back fence at the Marsh House and play the sora call and attempt to get a response from the real birds, who have been calling almost non-stop lately.
3. A bunch of soras will come out, pose for photos, sign a few autographs, and then go on about their sora business!
Oh I'm soooooooo excited I can barely sit still!
MOMENT OF SOBRIETY: If you've been reading this blog since the beginning, you're probably aware that I tend to come up with some VERY ambitious plans and I'm often (quite often) disappointed.
Remember the homemade spotting scope that yielded images that resembled something you'd see on a bad acid trip?
Remember the many attempts at digiscoping with my little Meade Condor scope?
Remember the homemade digiscoping adapter that broke my Nikon CP4800 camera? Let's all bow our heads in a moment of silence for said Nikon camera. Sigh.
But this time it's different! This time, it might actually all work out! I'll come back and update you after my break. Then we'll know whether this crazy little plan has any chance of succeeding.
UPDATE!-Delia 1, Cruel Fate 0! I played the song of a chipping sparrow outside on our walking trail, and who should fly up and sing in response but a chipping sparrow?? IT WORKS! Update later tonight or perhaps tomorrow on how the home birds respond. I can't believe it--it's really working!
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