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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Settings For Nocmigging (1 Viewer)

Louis_P

Average Birder
Inspired by recent Twitter posts about loads of Sandpipers being recorded by nocmigging recently (last night in particular), I hastily put together a rig to put out tonight (probably a day too late though:C) which I have been meaning to do for some time.

I have one question though, what audio settings are best for nocmigging, balancing file size and picking as many calls as possible? I guess wav files are better than mp3. The sampling rate and the bit depth though, I'm not sure on.

Thanks,
Louis
 
tbh, for nocmig I really don't think it matters. You will record calls that are identifiable and those that are not, and I strongly suspect that the key factors in determining this will be loudness of the call and proximity to the mic. I can't imagine a scenario where, for example, the difference in quality between .WAV and .MP3 would render a call identifiable or not. If you're going to use audacity, the default settings are fine.

Also, there's no need to worry about file size (unless your computer is on it's last legs I guess). I never save a whole nights nocmig recording - I just leave it open in audacity and cut out and save any interesting bits when reviewing it. You end up with some massive files on long wintery nights and my laptop struggles to save these, but seems to have no problem holding them while audacity is left open.
 
tbh, for nocmig I really don't think it matters. You will record calls that are identifiable and those that are not, and I strongly suspect that the key factors in determining this will be loudness of the call and proximity to the mic. I can't imagine a scenario where, for example, the difference in quality between .WAV and .MP3 would render a call identifiable or not. If you're going to use audacity, the default settings are fine.

Also, there's no need to worry about file size (unless your computer is on it's last legs I guess). I never save a whole nights nocmig recording - I just leave it open in audacity and cut out and save any interesting bits when reviewing it. You end up with some massive files on long wintery nights and my laptop struggles to save these, but seems to have no problem holding them while audacity is left open.

you record "Live" into Audacity?
I've only ever recorded into a recorder and opened the file in Audacity the next morning. My (old) laptop struggled with larger files.
I did have a command to trim the files into smaller chunks.
 
you record "Live" into Audacity?
I've only ever recorded into a recorder and opened the file in Audacity the next morning. My (old) laptop struggled with larger files.
I did have a command to trim the files into smaller chunks.

Yes, with a USB mic. By far the easiest way to do it as it means you don't have to spend ages transferring and saving massive files. Just don't close the window before you've finished with it!
 
Okay, thanks for the tips. I've got loads of hard drives to back up recordings on so I might as well record top-quality wav files. Recording live to audacity may be a bit difficult for me as I don't have a proper PC (I'm using Audacity on my Raspberry Pi though) but is a good idea.

How do you quickly review recordings? I looked at the sonogram 30 seconds at a time and then skipped to the next 30 seconds and so on, playing back any interesting bits but it still takes forever. I did find a Common Sand that called once as well as Tawny Owl (although I doubt the owl was migrating).

Thanks,
Louis
 
I have approx 15 second 'screen width' when reviewing, but I'm sure that 30 seconds is fine. I only use that one as that's the default that you get when you record direct into Audacity.

I reckon I'm looking at about 10 - 15 mins reviewing per hour of recording. Slightly longer at this time of year when I'm surrounded by lots of breeding herring gulls, which make a lot of noise at night, and have quite a bewildering variety of calls. As you learn the shapes of the calls of the common stuff (for me, herring gull and oystercatcher) you can skip past without listening to most of them, so you will get quicker with practice.
 
Oh, I'm not too slow then! Even with 10-15 mins per hour (I'm probably half of that speed at the moment as I try to research what birds are as I go along) that's quite a lots of time though.

I don't have loads of background calls other than a distant Tawny Owl that I have got used to already on the recordings but my main problem so far comes from a noisy neighbour. Every now and then all through the night, I hear some rustling, a door slam and a dog barking. They are all recognisable on the sonogram though so I can get used to them too.

Regarding what I've actually heard, I was a day late for lots of the sandpiper migration but I've still had a Common Sandpiper, a Moorhen (I think), and possibly one or two other things (I think most of them are Tawny Owls making different noises though).
 
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