Earlier this year, I dove into the world of recording with parabolas when a Pro Mono Parabolic microphone from Wildtronics landed on my porch in a large brown box.
This 22-inch wide dish-shaped microphone blew me away the first time I used it. In the past seven months I’ve used it nearly every weekend and uploaded nearly 100 recordings to eBird.
Mic + Recorder combo
I paired the Wildtronics mic with a Zoom F3 recorder mounted to the mini accessory bar and find it way more versatile and quick to set up and record than my shotgun mic setup.
I picked the F3 recorder for two reasons: its small size and no need to adjust gain, just start recording.
After disabling the F3’s pre-recording, phantom power, backlight and selecting the correct battery type, I get about two birding trips worth of use from a pair of AA batteries. About six hours of intermittent use.
Two things I consider when deciding which clips to upload:
- Is it my first recording of this bird species?
- If not, is this recording high quality?
Jeff’s favorite parabolic bird recordings
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Chuck-Will’s-Widow
Yellow-breasted Chat
Great-horned Owl
Canyon Wren
White-Eyed Vireo
Painted Bunting
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Clips
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Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay
Black-necked Stilt
Olive Sparrow
California Quail
Blue Grosbeak
Killdeer
⭐⭐⭐ Clips
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Osprey
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Bushtit
Summer Tanager
How I’ve traveled with it
I picked up one of those HUGE, Pelican 1640 hard cases with foam and check it during flights. It’s obnoxiously large but doesn’t weigh too much.
I now always carry both the camera and the parabolic mic when birding
I’m still in search of more comfortable straps or a way to better carry the mic and camera, but it works for now. The benefits of having a powerful microphone outweigh the added bulk.
Have you tried out a parabolic mic before? It feels like a super power!