Please RSVP here to receive the link to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpceGuqz8qGtT8Pr8spDPP4k5QvZaxLmrx
Imagine trying to learn to identify birds using a field guide with no pictures and descriptions like “it’s a happy bird; generating feelings of good will and joy.” That’s how helpful most field guides are when it comes to trying to learn bird songs. (Have you ever had much luck identifying a song described as “seet seet suree”?)
This week in Birds & Bytes, we’ll discuss more objective and useful approaches, using spectrograms and objective terms, which can really help you hear more accurately. We’ll then apply these techniques to a few confusing vocalizations to show how spectrograms are a powerful way of studying and separating similar-sounding songs.
Sponsored Brewery: Alarmist Brewing
Additional Supporting Partners of this series include Chicago Audubon Society & Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.
Schedule:
6:00 PM - Welcome and trivia questions
6:10 PM - Presentation
6:45 PM - Open Q & A
7:20 PM - Close
***
Tom Stephenson has been birding since he was a kid under the tutelage of Dr. Arthur Allen of Cornell University. His articles and photographs are in museums and many publications including Birding, Birdwatcher’s Digest, Handbook of the Birds of the World, Handbook of the Mammals of the World, Birds of Madagascar, and Guide to the Birds of SE Brazil.
Tom has lectured and guided many groups across the US as well as in Asia, where he trained guides for the government of Bhutan. He has donated numerous recordings of Eastern Himalayan rarities and other Asian species to Cornell’s Macaulay Library of Natural sounds.
For several years he was on Zeiss’s digiscoping team for the World Series of Birding; and in 2011 his and Scott’s team won the World Series Cape Island Cup.
In 2014 Tom and Scott set the US record for a Photo Big Day, taking pictures of 208 species in one 24-hour period.
As a musician Tom played concerts and did studio work for many years, working with several Grammy and Academy Award winners as well as performing with members of the NY Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. His clients included the Grateful Dead, Phil Collins and the FBI.
He joined Roland Corporation in 1991, managed the recorder division, and retired recently as Director of Technology.
While at Roland he designed the features, UI/UX, and managed the marketing, for many of the most successful products in the history of the company, including all of their multi-channel digital recording systems such as the VS-2480. He also brokered many third-party relationships with companies ranging from hardware manufacturers like Hewlett Packard and IBM to software firms including Antares (auto-tune), Logic (now of Apple), Universal Audio, and many more. He also worked closely with engineers at Apple on a multi-channel audio over Ethernet industry standard.
In 2002, he co-founded Roland's RSS audio division, which designed and sold products for the commercial and home audio markets including solid-state playback systems for Muzak and Disney, and multi-channel Ethernet mixing and distribution systems.
His latest book, The Warbler Guide, is published by Princeton University Press and recently won the National Outdoor Book Award. The Warbler Guide App, for iOS and Android, includes 3D rotating models and won the 2015 Design Award for AAUP Book, Jacket and Journal Show.
His app, BirdGenie, is a “shazam” for bird song that helps bird enthusiasts identify over 150 common vocalizations in eastern and western US by recording them on their smart phone. BirdGenie won the prestigious PROSE award from the American Association of Publishers.
Tom holds a patent on technology to identify animal vocalizations using a wide range of analytic criteria.
Tom is endorsed by Zeiss Sports Optics.
He was recently profiled in Nautilus Magazine
http://nautil.us/issue/50/emergence/how-to-hear-like-a-champion-birder
and in the Wild Things Facebook TV show on bird watching
https://www.littlethings.com/live-channel/wildlives/newest#OPQcVyhU
His article on memorization and song learning by National Audubon Society is here:
http://www.audubon.org/news/how-memorize-bird-songs-using-mental-images