Hi everyone!

I hope that the new year is bringing each of you good health and
prosperity,
along with prospects of great recording!

In mid-December I decided to escape the ice-covered trees here in Cedar
Rapids, IA and head for a warmer (and turns out, wetter) climate in the
panhandle of
Florida. Did some recording and photographing in the Choctawhatchee
River area, as well as in and around Pensacola. Managed to make it
back up to the Blackwater River State Forest, where they have a
significant habitat support program going on for the Red-cockaded
Woodpeckers. On Dec. 26th, situated up among the longleaf pines, I
waited
until near dusk for these birds to come back to their roosting trees.
The SF makes this accommodating by marking the active trees with broad
white paint stripes near the bases of the trees. At about 20 min.
before sundown, in they came. Temperature was at or just below 50'F,
compared with Dec 31st 2 years ago when it was about 70'F during that
recording adventure. These birds are pretty active when they prepare
to roost, calling and pecking around their holes. I have posted a
recording file in .WAV format. The MP3 version just isn't quite as
clear. Low and in the background there is the sound of a truck idling,
which eventually ended up bringing this recording to an abrupt halt do
to the disruptive behavior of the vehicle's occupants :( Equipment
used: Marantz PMD671, Sennheiser MKH-70 with blimp, mic on the ground
aimed up at the roosting hole of 1 of the 2 trees, 15 ft or so from
the tree, rec gain at about 6. Glad to have recorded these fascinating
birds again even if only briefly!

Planning to post some other photos and recordings soon. Enjoy your day!

Brad Gilliam
SRW classes of '05 & '07
Cedar Rapids, IA