posted by admin on May 17
Ever wanted to know what bird that is singing in the trees? Ever wondered where that amazing bird call is coming from in the bushes? Well now you can have your answer instantly with the Bird Voice (BV) Pen.
This new product is a clever extension of the new world of MP3 and flash technology, as it harnesses recorded sounds for instant recall.
How It Works:
Basically it stores the sounds of over 270 bird calls and songs (as well as further habitat information etc) on the ‘pen’, with room to spare for music tracks or further bird sounds.
This pen however, is nothing special on it’s own really (apart from it’s use as an MP3 player) - and of no use to you in the field - but this is where the clever part steps in.
This company have developed a picture set of common British Birds and assigned a ‘code’ to each picture. This is activated by the Bird Voice pen passing over it - a bit like a bar-code and associated reader - but rather than the bird flashing up a price - the BV pen instantly plays the song of that bird to you.
Whether you buy their waterproof field guide (with just basic pictures) or their entire organiser of birds with habitat icons, distributions maps and much more, you will have instant access to 270 bird calls at the swipe of your hand.
As this company know that most birders will already have their own field guides and reference books and know their way round them very well, they have also come up with stickers of their bird calls, that you can peel off and place on your own guides rather than having to learn the layout of a new book.
The Company:
Their website is rather plain and basic (www.birdvoice.co.uk), but it does allow you to listen to some of the calls before you buy, and shows you a list of all the birds on the recordings. It covers all the details of each item including sizes, organisation of species, special features and costs.
The most expensive item is, of course, the BV pen full of all the data (currently £99.95), and this pen doesn’t work without the field guides (£15 and £35) or stickers (£15), so expected costs will be over £115 for the bird songs to come to life.
It is however, a fantastic concept and makes tracking bird calls very easy in the field - and instantly. There’s no messing around, searching for the right sounds amongst everything else - they can be listened to straight away. Something that was impossible before.
Of course, it can also be used at home like any other recorded bird song software or Cd’s so you can practice identifying common calls before setting off into the woods……
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