I got a cool new birding gizmo from hubby Art for Valentine's Day! It's called Handheld Birds. It's a really neat PDA with a card that contains the National Geographic Field Guide to North American Birds. There are several ways to search for birds- color, size, or name. The search pool can be narrowed by first entering a region, month and/or habitat. For me probably the neatest feature is the ability to play the songs of each of the birds. It's a bit pricey, but I got a pretty good discount for having a Cornell Lab of Ornithology membership. I have a set of birdsong id CD's and had considered buying the birdJam software to put them on my iPod, but I believe the iBird software only works with the Stokes CD's and mine are by Peterson, Lang Elliott and my favorite- Bird Song Ear Training Guide by John Feith.
Even though it's only 1 degree above zero outside, the sun is shining and I can hear the birds out there.
Spring follows winter.
10 comments:
Great gadgett, Lynne. Your husband did good! You will need to become proficient with it by October so we can learn from you. BTW, the links to Peterson, Lang Elliott - Bird Song Ear Training Guide by John Feith didn't work.
This has to be the end of winter... Even here in Charlotte people have put away their flip-flops and are wearing heavy coats with hoods. But the birds are loud lately and very hungry. When I fill the feeders, it seems they devour it before I get back inside!
Warmer weather should be here soon but March can be iffy.
Wonderful Valentine's Day present Lynne! That looks really cool. I hope you enjoy it. Are you going to bring it to Cape May with you? I'd love to see a demo!
Damn skippy she's going to bring that gadget to Cape May!
What a very cool, thoughtful gift! Major points for Art!
Looks like a great gadget! I already have a Palm Tungsten, so I'm wondering if I could just buy the card???
Susan- Check out the link to the websight. They do sell the card separately. I'm having a blast with it!
Wow, that's some high-tech birding equipment there! Now if it could only be wired directly into your binoculars...
I'm still kind of a Luddite in that I like paging through field guides. But, I have been wanting a better resource for bird songs, which is my next frontier,and a book just can't provide that.
Very nice! I've seen them advertised and wondered how well they work. Can't wait to read some of your future birding adventures with it.
Super cool! Birding Tech! I love it! That BirdJam software is entrancing! I'm totally tempted! :) But then I get greedy, I want the whole shebang with the speaker system too. :)
Deb- I know what you mean about a book in the hand. I don't think the Handheld Birds will ever replace my Peterson Field Guide, but the bird song part is mighty neat!
LauraO- Another feature that I like on the PDA is that I can keep trip lists by date and location. I'm not hugely into listing but I'll be able to look back and see where/when I saw a bird.
Liza Lee- Oooh it's a slippery slope! :)
Birdchick brought her BirdJam system with the iMainGo speaker thingy to Sax-Zim bog and it was SWEEEET! That gal has tons of gizmos and gadgets.
Post a Comment