Lecture: Recording Bird Sounds with Randy Little

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The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology was a world pioneer in bird sound recording.  What started as the Library of Natural Sounds has grown to become the Macaulay Library, with nearly 40 million audio, photo and video recordings representing over 10,000 species of birds from around the world.  This presentation will chronicle that development from its beginning in 1929 to the present day, introducing you to the people, equipment and activities involved in creating this remarkable resource.

About Randy Little:

Randolph Scott Little grew up next to Fernow Hall on the Cornell Campus, then the home of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. After school Little would walk up the hill and tug at the shirt sleeves of Arthur Allen and Peter Paul Kellogg, the founders of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Little was fascinated by what he saw and wanted to help them do anything and everything.

Back in the day it took two people to record bird sounds, one person to crank the recorder and one person to hold the parabolic microphone. Little loved aiming the microphone and found recording birds to be super satisfying and that, Little says, is how his recording career got started.

Little’s passion for sound recording isn’t just about getting the recordings, he also wants to pass along his knowledge and passion for recording to others. He began passing on what he learned from Kellogg and his own experiences at the annual Macaulay Library sound recording workshops. Little taught his first workshop in 1987 and continued to help teach it for more than 30 years.