Hobbies: birds + all nature from sea bottom to outerspace; writing, drawing,
(I've also drawn cd covers for Finnish bands), playing & composing musik. Since yesterday, also teaching violin (which I've never played before, to my 5year daughter).
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A short story on birdsong:
Many have stated that Menura novaehollandiae (superb lyrebird of Australia) is the most talented songbird. Professor Charles Hartshorne has scientifically studied that this world's best songbirds (taking in account song quality, singing hours/day, months/year etc) are:
1. Lullula arborea (woodlark, Europe)
2. Cossypha semirufa (ruppell's robin-chat, Africa)
3. Myadestes unicolor (slate-colored solitaire, North America)
In Birdeurovision Song Contest, organised in 2002, public election results were:
1. Pluvialis apricaria (golden plover, Iceland's candidate)
2. Luscinia svecica (bluethroat, Belgium)
3. Haematopus ostralegus (oystercatcher, Faroe Islands)
Professional birders chose following:
1. Luscinia luscinia (thrush nightingale, Estonia)
2. Sylvia atricapilla (blackcap, Cyprus)
3. Alauda arvensis (skylark, Denmark)
According to Finnish survey published in May 2006, nightingale is the loudest singer of European avifauna. Also, the serious twitchers think that the best European songbird is Acrocephalus dumetorum (blyth's reed warbler). Together with A. palustris (marsh warbler) they are masters in imitating other birds.
My European favourite is Turdus philomelos (song thrush). North America's common fave is Mimus polyglottos (mockingbird, who starts to annoy folks at 4 am); birders' choice is Catharus guttatus (hermit thrush); I am hooked with Zonotrichia albicollis' (white-throated sparrow) kraftwerkian simplicity. Lang Elliott has published a North American cd + book "Music of the Birds".
World citizen Sturnus vulgaris (starling) is an imitating master: as an urban dweller it often learns manmade mechanical notes like car alarms. Four years ago a Parus major (great tit) living in my garden learned to sing the ringtone of my lil Nokia (a tune described by my co-workers as "the annoying ruy-ruy-tune"). I changed ringtone to the voice of Carpodacus erythrinus (rosefinch). Nowadays on a PPC phone, I have different bird voices as ringtones for my friends (rosefinch for my wife).
A myriad artists, especially new age ones, have used bird and other natural voices in their recordings. The best hybridisation of animal voices and pop muzik is Gentlemen Without Weapon's album "Transmissions" from 1988 - an albumful of songs, whose instruments are sampled animals: an amazing work. GWW's Kenny Young, bytheway, composed 1981 "Like electro people", the catchy electro tune of The Kenny Everett's television show.
Finnish television sends this autumn five-minute nature soundtrack films made by Pete Reilly & Ben Salisbury. The soundtracks are "instrumental pop" composed by using sampled animal & natural voices, sounding a bit like Deep Forest.
About fifteen years ago I saw a tv program that dealed with Kevin Peek's musical ambitions with sampled bird songs. I have not managed to find further info about that.
