Ubuntu Multimedia :: Recording My Peacocks - Ready-made Application ?

I would like to capture the sound of my peacocks. These birds "crow" (for lack of a better word) only a few times in a day.

Usually they do so at around the time it gets light, about 6:00-ish. They might call again once before I leave for work.

The problem is to capture a high quality audio clip of their sound I need to have the recording running when they call. Turning the recorded on an hour before they call may be an option, but the size of the data file produced is rather obnoxious.

So I need something like a kind of time-lapse function for sound. I'd like to set the recording to run and then have it fill a 10-minute circular buffer.

Then when the birds call, I can go and stop the recording and then I can extract the portions from the file that I like.

Now, finally, for the question: Is there a ready-made linux application I can use for this?

I don't do a lot of audio work, and don't expect to use the program more than a few times, so I am willing to build something from source too, so long as it is easy to clean up afterwards and as long as it compiles without too many issues.

I am running Ubuntu 10.10.