100 Bird Songs & Counting: My First 7 Months with a Parabolic Mic

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.

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Written by: Jeff Mann

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jeff with dish mic and bird stickers

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jeff with wildtronics parabolic mic
I brought the parabola to Austin to see the roosting of thousands of Purple Martins.

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.

The Zoom F3 and Wildtronics Parabolic mic become one. Connected by a cute green XLR cable I found online

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

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Clips

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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

Lorem ipsum blah blah blah.

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.

wildtronics pro mono parabolic mic sitting on the foam of a pelican case
The Pelican 1640 Case is so big!
parabolic mic inside hard travel case
It fits into the hard case face up
shape of microphone staked in case foam using toothpicks
I staked out the shape with toothpicks and slowly plugged the foam away to make room for the mic.
jeff and the pelican case next to a car
I’ve taken it to California and Florida in the case so far!

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!

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