We still have our few Black-capped Chickadees around at the feeders. It is
always difficult to get an exact date when they leave. We have timed it in the
past when we have a massive exodus of Purple Finches the BCCH leave also. Since
we have very few and sporadic Purple Finches now they will not be as good of an
obvious trigger. If anyone is following BCCH in lowland elevations please email
me your BCCH departure dates.
Hearing aids: I shopped around for hearing aids and ended up at Cosco as a
final choice. About ½ the price of other store brands and they were also very
flexible. Four channels to have customized – I do: 1 regular voice; 2 crowded
conditions (not all that helpful and maybe better programed for another bird
group); 3 high range bird calls (warblers, etc. and very effective); 4 low
range bird calls (deep hooters, owls, grouse etc).
As a kid I went to sleep every night with the Peterson bird records playing
hoping I could learn the songs in my sleep. These hearing aids have added
several decades of youthfulness back to my ears – if you think your need them
don’t delay.
I have 2 other listening devices that involve wearing “ear muffs”. They lower
the calls and are effective at allowing you to hear noise but the calls don’t
sound like I remember the birds voices. You have to relearn the calls and as
you lower the tone the weirder it sounds.
Backpacks: If you are in the market for a backpack, Thinktank and Mindset has
offered our college an educational 30% discount and we can pass this along to
bird clubs, camera clubs etc. Email me if interested and I will give you the
code for 30% discount and free shipping. They have quite a few other items to
make field work easier. Rob Simpson - rsimpson@xxxxxxxx
Professor Robert Simpson
Contact for Ornithology, Mycology, Dendrology, Mammalogy, Ichthyology,
Herpetology, Ecology, Field Botany and other Field Biology oriented classes
Program contact for Outdoor and Nature Photography Careers Certificate
Best form of contact is email: rsimpson@xxxxxxxx
Office Hours: Tue. 11:30am - 1:00 pm, 3:00 - 4:30pm;
Wed. 11:30am - 1:00pm, 3:00 - 5:00pm, 7:00 - 7:30pm;
Thur. 11:00am - 2:00pm
