For quiet birdsong, etc. a dish would be the real solution (telling, etc.). The pcmd50 does very great job, especially for the price, but don't wait sennheiser of schoeps performance from it. With all that said, I think many-many pcm-d50 recordings went into big productions, because it is a very decent recorder, even with the built in mics. One thing you should be aware of: sometimes you can use more gain, because the headphone preamp is bit hissy, but still the recording is not. Experiment with it a bit, and you'll find it's sweet spot regarding to soft ambiences,etc. I too highly recommend to record in 24bit 96kHz. And really, the main point is to record, once you'll have more money, you'll buy better equipment, but the sony is a very capable little device, so don't miss any opportunity just because you don't have thousands for a mic.

For quiet birdsong, etc. a dish would be the real solution (telinga, etc.). The pcmd50 does very great job, especially for the price, but don't wait sennheiser of schoeps performance from it. With all that said, I think many-many pcm-d50 recordings went into big productions, because it is a very decent recorder, even with the built in mics. One thing you should be aware of: sometimes you can use more gain, because the headphone preamp is bit hissy, but still the recording is not. Experiment with it a bit, and you'll find it's sweet spot regarding to soft ambiences,etc. I too highly recommend to record in 24bit 96kHz. And really, the main point is to record, once you'll have more money, you'll buy better equipment, but the sony is a very capable little device, so don't miss any opportunity just because you don't have thousands for a mic.