Hi Chris and all, >From personal communications I understand that my comments sounded harsher or >more broadly critical than they were intended. I certainly didn't mean to be >dismissive of the study of nocturnal flight calls! But the recent ID threads >raise some issues that deserve thought.
As I understood it, people have been using automated methods for sampling and recording nocturnal flight calls, rather than listening and recording in real time. The potential value of automation over direct observation is obvious in terms of data volume and efficiency--much larger datasets per unit of research effort. But let's not forget that there must be a trade-off in terms of quality--that the automated protocol will probably miss lots of interesting stuff that it's not "looking" for, and that more of the sounds it picks up will be difficult to identify (due to truncation, loss of context, or whatever), than if somebody had been recording the whole night period and listening to everything carefully in its context. Against this seemingly obvious trade-off, it struck me as questionable for the best minds of nfc analysis to expend so much effort and expertise in manually analyzing a very small number of ambiguous data points (it was the selection of these particular clips that seemed haphazard and ex post facto). To me, this approach squanders the advantages that the automated technique offers in terms of efficiency while yielding very minimal improvements to data quality. If, as I suspect, the motivation for fixating on these particular odd and unexpected recordings isn't really so much about improving datasets per se, but is rather an expression of curiosity and a desire to learn, then let's at least be honest about how this feeds back to the trade-off. My query really comes down to this: there must exist some point at which the effort sacrificed for combing out and correcting a small number of ambiguous, truncated recordings consumes so much time that one might have achieved better data (and more personal satisfaction) via direct observation of selected hours of nocturnal activity. Shai Mitra Bay Shore, NY ________________________________________ From: Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes [c...@cornell.edu] Sent: Wednesday, May 3, 2017 3:10 PM To: NFC-L Subject: [nfc-l] Truncation, Amplification, and Purpose... <<As to the concern about these kinds of observations as being haphazard and ex post facto, I think this may be a misperception of the purpose of listening for or collecting data pertaining to night flight calls. Do any of you remember a time when nobody understood anything about night flight calls or what species vocalize at night or through which regions they pass? Questions addressing these unknowns have been answered and are actively being answered by people trying to dissect this mystery. Without collecting audio data and identifying or characterizing them, we will forever remain ignorant of how night migrants use this often little-recognized form of habitat – airspace. This isn’t purely about ticking off species on a personal backyard checklist, this is about expanding the collective knowledge of nocturnal migration through night flight call data collection and identification. Along with supplemental data from RADAR stations and local eBird checklist, these data all add tremendously to help better clarify our understanding of how birds use air space habitat during nighttime movement. The results from these forms of data collection can also help mitigate the negative impact and interference that aerial structures or other skyward objects have on birds using airspace habitat during migration.>> Good birding and night flight call listening!! Sincerely, Chris T-H On May 2, 2017, at 5:46 AM, Preston Lust <prestonl...@yahoo.com<mailto:prestonl...@yahoo.com>> wrote: 5/1/17 -- 10:03 PM Last night, I recorded some interesting calls - the first one sounding similar to northern cardinal. Do these calls originate from two separate species of birds, or are they one? And which species? Thank you. Preston Lust, Westport CT -- NFC-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_WELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_RULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC-L_SubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L> Birding.ABA.Org<http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NFC> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- <Tseep_2017-05-01_22.03.10_00.wav><Screen Shot 2017-05-02 at 5.42.29 AM.png> -- Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes Field Applications Engineer Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850 W: 607-254-2418<tel:607-254-2418> M: 607-351-5740<tel:607-351-5740> F: 607-254-1132<tel:607-254-1132> http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp -- NFC-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_WELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_RULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC-L_SubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L> Birding.ABA.Org<http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NFC> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- NFC-L List Info: Welcome and Basics – http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_WELCOME Rules and Information – http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC_RULES Subscribe, Configuration and Leave – http://www.northeastbirding.com/NFC-L_SubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm Archives: The Mail Archive – http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html Surfbirds – http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Birding.ABA.Org – http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NFC Please submit your observations to eBird! – http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
