Song Sleuth: Birdsong Detective By Wildlife Accoustics
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 11. 7.05
"Now you can identify birdsongs in the field in realtime," chirps the ad copy from Wildlife Accoustics, Inc. "As seen in the New York Times" [Circuits column] proclaims the company's home page. A directional mic, an audio signal processing program, and a wave form matching database seem to be the major components. Reminds us a bit of MIDI sampllng software; or, the chemist's gas chromatograph curve matching database. If Grandpa never taught you to pick out the Bluejay screech from the din of suburban traffic noise, there could be some beginner birding fun here. But the nearly $400 "starting" price will make an average TreeHugger hoot like a spotted owl. For the professional ornithologist, there's no reason a handheld mic and digital recorder, even an iPOD, could not capture and then download the audio stream to accomplish the same feat, though not in "real time". Perhaps there is some redeeming factor we have overlooked. Could there be an upgrade in the wings that will teach users how to do the Chicken Dance?
ben sedat
Seems like a some what nifty idea, and I could see this expand to other things besides birds, like some hackers using it for identifying cars, guns, dangerous animals etc.
The thing looks like a giant toaster though, a little IPODification wouldn't hurt...
I'm not an ornithologist (nor do I play one on TV or the web) but I can think of a use for this. It looks like it would be extremely useful when enlisting non-professional assistance during bird counts. While the price might make it prohibitive for amateur watchers, organizations could certainly have them for loan/checkout, as could areas with birding tours. The 'point and click' nature of the tool would make it ideal for this.
Of course, I think it could use some iPodization too. :-) But then again, not if it made it more expensive - and not if it made it more fragile.