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Posted by John Blatchford Jul 11, 2008 |
Whales communicate with one-another, and recording the sounds they make alongside what they were doing at the time could help us understand what they are saying.
Hydrophones
Rugged underwater microphones are now available at reasonable cost. Some allow recorded sound data to be analyzed later on a computer, meaning that it is possible to use information about whale signals outside the frequency range that humans can hear. Many devices are battery operated and fully portable and the microphone can simply be dropped into the water beside the whale watching boat, while the engine is off, of course!
Video Recording
Most digital cameras have video capability, and many can accept an external microphone input (hydrophone in this case). This means that it is possible to record whale behaviour along with the sounds they were making underwater at that time. Naturally the only behaviour that can be videoed will be whatever takes place at the surface, while sounds made underwater might be associated with other activities.
Camera Binoculars
One of the main problems with watching whales is the unpredictability of exactly when and where they will next surface. Continuously scanning the area with good marine binoculars is the usual way to overcome this problem, but there will rarely be time to put down the binoculars and get the camera ready before they submerge again. This is where instant replay camera binoculars become extremely useful.
(Some earlier blogs discuss the additional equipment that might be of interest to whale watchers, including one about image stabilization for binoculars.)