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The graphic below illustrates my recording setup. It is rather overboard, but suits my needs. The parabolic microphone is highly directional, this makes it, in my opinion, high maintenence. The need to frequently re-point the dish at whoever is calling at the moment is always there. One additional agnst for me is the frequent situation where an unusual or "important" bird flys in above or behind from where the dish is pointed, calls loudly once or twice and then before I can pan the dish in its direction it flys off, show over. A second microphone to catch those birds is desired.
I have recently added wireless headphones to my gear although honestly I do not use them much. Latency is kinda bothersome but not being physically tethered to the tripod is critical. I may need to reposition myself to get a better look/photo, often in a hurry. No time to remove the phones or more likely I forget and wind up tipping over the tripod. Listening takes place at the computer after the field session is over.
So the setup includes a sensitive wide-field microphone to record the ambient background along with the occasional ringers. Power the whole shebang off a beefy 38,800 mAh USB battery pack and its time to go record.
Note that this setup is suited for my patch style of birding where setting a microphone on a tripod is appropriate. For mobile recording I expect a recorder with or without shotgun microphone is the better way to go so I include background on such microphones later on as well.
KJS 04/2025