Book Description
Roger Tory Peterson had already made his mark with his innovative field guide when he conducted DDT research during World War II. His friend and fellow naturalist Rachel Carson built on these efforts and eventually wrote Silent Spring, a landmark text that, along with Peterson's field guide, jump-started the modern environmental movement. By combining the tireless observation of a scientist with the imaginative skills of an artist and writer, Peterson created a field guide that Robert Bateman, in his foreword to the fifth edition, says was the doorway for millions of people into the wonderland of natural history. The Peterson Identification System has been used in the more than fifty books that make up the Peterson Field Guide series. Peterson's magnum opus, now in its fifth edition, created the trail for countless field guides to follow. They are still following year by year, but his is the standard by which all other field guides are judged. On the morning of July 28, 1996, Roger Peterson was painting his final bird plate. He died peacefully in his sleep later that day. It is fitting that his final worka culmination of more than sixty years of observing, painting, and writingshould be this one, a revision of the guide that started his legacy.
Customer Reviews:
better then the audabon.......2007-09-30
The North Carolina bird watcher's assoc. said it was about the best and I believe they are right.
Field Guide to Birds of Eastern & Central America.......2007-09-27
Best book I ever found on birds in Eastern and Central America. Excellent color photos.
Excellent Gift, great resource.......2007-08-23
I love the peterson's bird guides, they are much better than other birding guides. I bought this one for my friend so we could compare life lists.
A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America.......2007-08-09
This is one of the best birding books for beginners as well as expert birders. I have had my field guide for years and just recently gave my daughter a copy so she would stop calling me and asking me to identify birds over the phone to her.
Great bird guide.......2007-08-05
I like this bird guide. It is very helpful in pointing out specific markings/traits similar birds have. This way I can decipher who I'm looking at. I like the maps that indicate where the birds summer, winter or stay year-round. Most drawings have pictures of juveniles. One of the things I would have liked to seen is more juvenile pictures as many juvenile birds visit here in early to mid-summer. I wasn't able to readily recognize them due to similar body types to other types of birds and their plumage being so differnt from their parents. Another thing I would have liked to seen in the guide is what the birds eat at different times in their lives and at different times of year. This would help in locating and identifying. However, the guide does tell what type of areas the birds live in. Overall, I really like the guide. It is durable, the illustrations of the birds are very detailed and it is informative.
Book Description
BIRDING BY EAR uses an educational and entertaining method for learning bird songs. Instead of merely providing a catalog of bird song samples, BIRDING BY EAR actually teaches. This proven method has greatly enhanced the field experience for birders across North America. The authors have created learning groups of similar vocalizations and clearly point out distinguishing characteristics. Using techniques such as phonetics, mnemonics, and descriptive words, Walton and Lawson provide a context for learning the songs and calls of eighty-five species of birds found east of the Rockies. Combine the auditory instruction here with the visual features of the Peterson Identification System. Page numbers in BIRDING BY EAR's booklet refer to species descriptions in the PETERSON FIELD GUIDE TO BIRDS OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA, fifth edition.
Customer Reviews:
Birding by Ear.......2007-09-27
Great item. Good for listening to in your car. My wife loves it and we have used it to learn our birds in Alabama.
Not the only one you want to have.......2007-06-27
This is a good set of disks that groups bird songs by some feature of similarity. I never knew, for instance, that robins and scarlet tanagers sound so similar. The disks are quite good for helping you learn the differences between similar-sounding species. Keep after it and you will learn to distinguish Carolina from black-capped chickadees.
That said, I would not want this for my only set of bird songs, because if you want to listen to a specific bird, it's too hard to find without the booklet in your hands. Since I listen to these disks on my PC on the patio or my PDA & my MP3 player when I'm out walking or in the car, that is not convenient for me. I bought it in combination with the "Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern Region" and am much more pleased with the combination than I would have been with this set alone.
Mind you, having the disks does not guarantee species identification. At this moment I'm sitting at the PC with the window to my suburban back yard open, listening to a low "chuck-chuck-chuck-chuck-chuck" that I canNOT find on either set of disks!
REALLY surpassed my expectations! You'll LOVE it!!!.......2007-05-11
I recently got interested in birding a few months ago and asked for this CD set for my birthday. My mom gave it to me and I couldn't believe how easy it made recognizing a LOT of different bird songs and calls. The narrator gives you a "handle" on each bird song so you can remember it easily, and he gives great suggestions on how to devise your own handles. Similar-sounding birds don't seem confusing after he explains the differences to listen for. He educates you, but doesn't include any unnecessary "filler" information, only what is important and what will really matter out in the field.
Before I listened to it, I thought the narration would just be someone saying, "This is the Orchard Oriole" with a short snippet of what one sounds like, then on to the next bird. But it was a great surprise to get all this extra information. He also repeats the songs several times so you don't have to constantly rewind, and he pauses for just the right amount of time between repetitions; I found that I learned the calls pretty fast if I had the right number of seconds to consider each one. Believe it or not, after several seconds you actually do start to forget what you just heard, but it was uncanny how at the very moment I'd start to forget, it would repeat, and that was very satisfying.
I never write reviews for anything, but on this particular product, I felt like the makers really needed to be commended for sharing their knowledge in such a thorough and extremely effective fashion. They obviously spent a lot of time deciding what to include, how to arrange everything, and how to explain everything to a novice so that they would understand. Real quality seems so rare these days. I appreciated the fact that their main objective was really to teach effectively, not just to put a CD together that would make money. You'll be way more excited about birding after you listen to these CDs.
Also I wanted to mention that the audio quality is absolutely superb. One time I started my car while the CD was in, and I didn't realize it was starting to play...I got really excited because I thought I heard a White-Throated Sparrow loud and clear right by my car, so I frantically screamed to my son that one must be RIGHT NEXT TO US SOMEWHERE!!! ... but then I realized it was the CD and I was so embarrassed.
My favorite ones to listen to are the Pileated Woodpecker, the Bobolink, the Red-Shouldered Hawk and the Barred Owl. These 4 birds sound extremely bizarre and you will probably laugh your head off at the sounds they make. The Bobolink sounds like a spastic alien computer switchboard. The Veery is unbelievably weird and haunting, and the Eastern Meadowlark and Northern Cardinal are really beautiful. There are lots of different song categories which are separated and easy to find if you are looking for a certain one. Also, if you have kids, their jaws will drop listening to the intriguing sounds. Most of the birds are pretty common so you are bound to hear at least some of them if you just walk around outside.
Can you tell I'm impressed?!!!
as expected.......2007-04-29
this cd is as expected, no surprise,no complaints.a good selection of birds have been packed into this.
Excellent Teaching Style.......2007-01-19
The narrator discusses each bird's song and/or call, telling you specific things to listen for, including comparisons to similar calls. Then the song/call is played. The narrator finally reviews what you heard, pointing out similarities and differences again, as well as noting peculiarities. I found this to be a very simple to follow format, and one which helped me to remember the songs/calls of each bird better than similar CD's which just give the name of the bird & then let you hear the song/call. A booklet is included for review as well.
Book Description
A Field Guide to Bird Songs is the best-selling collection of bird songs ever recorded. It includes the songs and calls of 267 species - all the most common and vocal birds found east of the Rockies. Organized as a companion to Roger Tory Peterson's Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America, fifth edition, this is the "birder's bible" of bird song.
Customer Reviews:
Not for a beginner.......2007-10-03
On the positive side, there are a LOT of different bird songs recorded in this cd. It would be much more user-friendly, however, if each track contained only one bird. The sheer number of different bird songs, combined with the not-so-convenient access to individual bird songs, makes this cd more appropriate as a comprehensive reference for use with the written field guide, or perhaps a field guide for someone already an expert, rather than a usable field guide for a more casual birder. Not something I would recommend if you simply want a cd that will help you recognize common bird songs as you are walking through the woods.
Bird Songs on a CD.......2007-05-16
A good CD and helpful index booklet. A booklet with color pictures of the male and female birds would be a helpful option even if it was at an additional cost.
Field Guide for Song birds.......2007-05-15
An interesting compilation of songbird sounds along with the name of each bird. Does not go into the wide variation of song that many birds are capable of, eg. the Carolina Wren. Somewhat helpful as an addition to Peterson's field guide to birds.
Helpful audio CD.......2007-03-22
I researched for the audio cd to identify bird songs. Peterson Field Guides five star rated cd met all the requirements i wanted. This is not soothing new age background music, but an educational tool for beginning birders like myself. Even while multitasking along w/ listening, it is very educational. Try loading the songs on your computer or ipod & see how quickly you will recognize.
Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern and Central N.America.......2007-02-04
Great resource for learning to recognize various songs and calls of hundreds of birds.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent resource.......2007-06-25
My grandma originally owned a copy of this book and regularly noted sightings of interesting/rare species. I bought my own copy several years ago and it has proved quite useful. The most interesting example was a Java Sparrow sighted in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I couldn't find out what it was from searching around online, but looking in the back of this field guide, under foreign/introduced species, there it was.
Quality Through and Through.......2005-10-11
I received this book as a gift and have used it constantly. I keep it on my window sill during the feeding season to identify the visiters to my feeder. The book's size and physical construction are excellent. As someone who is a novice it seems to be very comprehensive on the subject matter.
The birder's bible.......2005-07-19
Even when I lived in the city, I liked to feed and watch the birds (mainly sparrows and pigeons). Now that we live up in the woods, we're in bird paradise. Using this Peterson Field Guide for "Eastern Birds" plus a good pair of binoculars for visual identifications, and the "Birding by Ear Eastern/Central" CDs (Richard K. Walton and Robert W. Lawson) I've identified 42 species of birds in just over a month, as a casual observer for the Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas II project.
I have other bird books, but it is Peterson's Field Guide that I use most frequently. Roger Tory Peterson's 'system' "is based on patternistic drawings with arrows that pinpoint the key field marks." You don't have to have the bird in hand in order to make an identification. In addition to 136 full-color plates of Eastern birds (male, female, and immature, or summer and winter plumage if they differ markedly), there are also 390 three-color maps (first introduced in the 1980 edition).
The maps are absolutely essential for an amateur like me. If I've narrowed down a blurry little gray bird to X and Y, and Y never makes it north of the Mason-Dixon Line, I can be pretty certain that the bird is X. Here's an actual example on the utility of the maps: I was trying to distinguish a trilling song that could either belong to the Swamp Sparrow, the Pine Warbler, or the Northern Junco. We do see Juncos at our feeders in the winter, but this is July and according to Peterson's map, the Juncos spend the summer north of here, mostly in Canada. So I've narrowed the trill down to the Swamp Sparrow or the Pine Warbler (actually I'm positive we've got both as I've made tentative visual identifications. It makes sense since we live in the Pine Barrens which is dotted with numerous swamps).
This book begins with a generalized introduction to identifying birds by shape, distinctive features and behavior. Physically, it is tightly bound and just the right size to slip into a backpack. The pages are glossy and 'relatively' waterproof if you wipe them quickly dry. There is even a 'life list' up front where you can check off the birds you have seen.
Don't go birding without it.
Excellent beginner book for myself and my sister........1999-04-26
The Peterson field Guide to Eastern American Birds turned out to be the best birding book I've ever read. The book was well thought out and had the format that we needed in our suburban environment. The illustrations were concise and made identifying the birds extremely easy. We have a large population of Red-Winged Blackbirds and Mourning Doves, and its great to actually know what in the world we were looking at. It was great!
Excellent guide to identification of birds........1998-05-13
This is the best of the field guides for the amature birder in my opinion. I purchased a guide that had actual photos of birds in their habitats, thinking it would be the best, but it definately was not as good or as easy to use as the Peterson field guide. If you are looking for a good all around field guide to keep near your binoculars, this one is my pick.
Book Description
A continuation of the successful BIRDING BY EAR system for learning bird songs. Just as the original BIRDING BY EAR audio introduces listeners to a unique method of learning and remembering bird songs, MORE BIRDING BY EAR employs these proven techniques for ninety-six additional species of birds found east of the Rockies. Walton and Lawson have created learning groups of similar vocalizations and clearly point out distinguishing characteristics, using phonetics, mnemonics, and other memory aids. MORE BIRDING BY EAR will increase your skill and enjoyment in the field by helping you learn the vocalizations of twenty-five species of warblers, all of the North American rails, and an assortment of terns, other waterbirds, and passerines. Many shorebird call notes are also included. Combine the auditory instruction here with the visual features of the Peterson Identification System. Page numbers in MORE BIRDING BY EAR's booklet refer to species descriptions in the PETERSON FIELD GUIDE TO BIRDS OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA, fifth edition.
Customer Reviews:
big help.......2007-05-14
this CD is perfect, it is a compliment to Birding by Ear and having both of these is invaluable to learning the calls of the birds I see and hear in my area. I had heard the CD at my local Audabon shop and almost bought them there, Amazon was $10. cheaper and I bought both CD's. They are a joy to listen to and are very helpful to me.
For the Hard Core Bird Lover.......2007-01-11
I purchased the Birding by Ear cd collection as well as this one. I prefer the first, simply because it features more of my favorite bird friends; however, this, like the first one, is set up in a very easy to listen to and learn manner. Very soothing voice along with the song bird calls and songs - how can you go wrong?
Quick, three beers!.......2005-07-13
I've been listening to the predecessor of "More Birding by Ear," i.e. "Birding by Ear (Eastern and Central North America)" for over a year now, and the music-processing regions in my brain are finally sorting the symphony of bird song in the woods and swamps around our house into individual melodies. I strongly recommend that you start with Walton and Lawson's "Birding by Ear" as it has recorded the songs and calls of eighty-five common species. "More Birding by Ear" provides recordings of ninety-six additional Eastern and Central North American species, many of them, such as the shore birds, not often heard outside of their specialized habitats.
For most people, bird calls may produce nothing more than a song that is hard to get out of the head. These two three-CD sets will help them make sense of those songs. I was so encouraged by the calls I had learned from these CDs that I signed up as a volunteer for the Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas. So far I've identified forty-one birds in my 'priority block,' many of them by song alone.
I don't know whether I'll actually ever see a Red-eyed Vireo, an Oven Bird, or a Veery but I hear them almost every day now, calling from the forest canopy or deep in the swamp, or echoing eerily down the river at dusk.
Yet oddly enough, once I've identified a bird call on the CD, such as "More Birding by Ear's" Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, I begin to see Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers everywhere. Location by song must be giving my eyes a kick start. Now I'm beginning to suspect they're one of the commonest woodpeckers in our neighborhood!
The narrative that accompanies the bird song on these CDs will both entertain and inform you. Who will ever be able to forget the song of the Olive-Sided Flycatcher once it is translated into the catch-phrase, "Quick, three beers!"
If you're serious about your birding, and want to identify birds by song, as well as by binoculars and field guides, these CDs are priceless.
VERY HELPFUL.......2004-10-15
MORE BIRDING BY EAR is the follow-up to BIRDING BY EAR. BIRDING BY EAR presented 85 species of birds. MORE BIRDING BY EAR presents 96 additional species. MORE BIRDING BY EAR follows the same format as BIRDING BY EAR. Species are grouped according to similar types of vocalizations. Primary songs and calls are presented. In some cases, other songs and calls are also presented. Vocalizations are analyzed, and comparisons are made to other, similar sounding birds. Phonetics and tips are suggested to help the listener to remember the vocalizations. It is suggested that you complete BIRDING BY EAR before going on to MORE BIRDING BY EAR.
Species included in More Birding by Ear are:
DISK 1: Sora, Virginia Rail, Clapper Rail, King Rail, Yellow Rail, Black Rail, Pied-billed Grebe, Least Bittern, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Wood Duck, Great Blue Heron, Marsh Wren, Least Flycatcher, Acadian Flycatcher, Willow Flycatcher, Alder Flycatcher, Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, Pine Siskin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Winter Wren, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Common Nighthawk, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Evening Grosbeak, Osprey, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Black-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Fish Crow, Common Raven, Swainson's Thrush, Bicknell's Thrush, Boat-tailed Grackle, Rusty Blackbird, American Pipit, Horned Lark.
DISK 2: Prairie Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Palm Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Louisiana Waterthrush, Swainson's Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Canada Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Savannah Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Bachman's Sparrow, Henslow's Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Seaside Sparrow, Common Loon, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Blue-headed Vireo.
DISK 3: Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher, Black-Bellied Plover, American Golden-Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Upland Sandpiper, Willet, Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Sanderling, Pectoral Sandpiper, Common Snipe, Royal Tern, Caspian Tern, Common Tern, Forster's Tern, Least Tern.
At the end of DISK 3 is a "test." All 96 species are grouped by habitat. The songs and calls are presented, but in a different order from the learning groups. The listener is not told which bird he is listening to. This can be frustrating at first, but is also a good way to learn. I found that the first few times through, I missed practically all of them. But bit-by-bit, I began to identify some of the calls. As I mastered more of the calls, it became easier and easier for me to identify the remaining ones.
Amazon.com
Roger Tory Peterson, one of America's pre-eminent artist-naturalists and arguably the inventor of the field guide, made people love birds like no one since John James Audubon. A Field Guide to the Birds, first published in 1934, remains his most famous and wonderful work. The manual stood instantly apart from the dichotomous keys zoologists used to identify species, since Peterson grouped paintings of related species together and used arrows to, as he explained, "pinpoint the key field marks." This way, watchers could spot birds from a distance and avoid, as he archly put it, "the bird-in-hand characters that the early collectors relied on." Birders could use the guide where they needed it most--outdoors--on living birds flitting quickly by. In addition to detailed illustrations, Peterson offers charming (and useful) descriptions of each avian citizen's appearance, behavior, voice, and range. There is also priceless anecdotal information, based on decades of field experience, as in this description of the common house sparrow (Passer domesticus): "Familiar to everyone. Sooty city birds often bear little resemblance to clean country males with the black throat, white cheeks, chestnut nape." His transliterations of song are just as quietly marvelous. For instance, Pluvialis squatarola, or the black-bellied plover, makes things clear with "a plaintive slurred whistle, tlee-oo-eee or whee-er-ee (middle note lower)."
Peterson's original handbook covered birds of Eastern North America, and has since been followed by guides to Western birds, animal tracks, butterflies, and many other natural wonders. He and his team updated "The Birders' Bible" as new species were discovered and classifications modified. Generations of enthusiastic watchers owe Peterson a debt of gratitude for making ornithology accessible. But equally important, he showed scientists that finding beauty in living animals, and not just cataloging the measurements of dead ones, was crucial. Roger Tory Peterson died in 1996. He will be remembered as a passionate naturalist, a keen observer of living things, and a gifted artist and teacher. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Explore the Expanding Peterson Line
Leave your reading glasses behind
Now Roger Tory Peterson's classic Field Guide to Eastern Birds has been reissued in a larger format specially produced for those who don't want to take their reading glasses into the field. Peterson's treasured illustrations have been reproduced in beautiful color. Species descriptions include only the most important identification elements -- size, voice, and habitat -- in large, easy-to-read type. Color range maps, have been updated specifically for this book.
Roger Tory Peterson's original text has been revised and updated by Virginia Peterson, who worked closely with her husband and created the maps for the fourth edition of the Field Guide to Eastern Birds; Noble Proctor, a professor of biology who was a close friend of Roger Tory Peterson's and led natural history tours for twenty-five years; and Pete Dunne, vice president of the New Jersey Audubon Society and director of the Cape May Bird Observatory, as well as the author of many books on birding. The maps have been updated by Virginia Peterson and Paul Lehman, past editor of Birding magazine and a bird tour leader who has traveled extensively around North America studying bird distribution and identification and has written many articles on these subjects.
Customer Reviews:
Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Bird, Large Format Edition.......2007-07-27
This easy on the eyes large format edition is a great book for all ages and levels of bird watching. The soft cover makes it light to handle or take with you in the field. The large format makes identifying birds much easier and quicker. Well layed out and practical.
Peterson Field Guides.......2007-03-16
It took almost 3 weeks to get this item. Very disappointed in comparison to other items I've ordered through Amazon.
Not your father's Peterson Guide.......2007-01-13
I mistakenly thought that the large print version would be the same as my trusted old Peterson Guide, just in large print. Nope! The format is entirely different and greatly abbreviated. It's misleading to title this text the same as the original. This may be a nice guide for a novice bird watcher for bird feeder identification. I gave my copy away to a shut-in with minimal bird identifying experience.
Misrepresentation .......2006-06-25
This book was bundled with another bird book, and the offer appeared directly under the Peterson Field Guide book, which I thought I was ordering. It was not very obvious in the small thumbnail image and description that it was a child's coloring book. I did not get what I wanted and have since returned it.
Perfect book for the older birder.......2006-01-30
I purchased this book for my mother, who is in her 70s. She recently started birding so this was her first field guide-easy to read, large pictures make identification very easy for the beginning birder of any age.
Average customer rating:
- Look elsewhere
- Excellent Sound, Too Many Species, Poor Format
- Unfortunately this CD set was a disappointment.
- The Stokes guide has dated this once standard reference
- Buy Stokes CD Set instead
|
Bird Songs Eastern/Central (Perterson Field Guides)
Roger Tory Peterson Institute
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
 Birdwatching
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
| Excursion Guides
| Field Guides
| General
Ornithology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Books on Cassette
| Audiobooks
| Formats
| Books
ASIN: 0395502578 |
Customer Reviews:
Look elsewhere.......2004-03-18
This CD is somewhat disappointing since the a number of birds are clumped together in one track, and each bird's song is quite short. It's better than nothing, I guess, now that I have it.
Excellent Sound, Too Many Species, Poor Format.......2002-01-31
This CD and booklet falls short on several counts. The greatest shortcoming is the grouping of a dozen or more species on a single track. If the bird you want to listen to is at the end, you have to wade through all the others first. And though the sound quality is sharp, the songs are very short. Also, there is but a single call per species, and no accompanying explanation (unlike Lang Elliott's excellent "Know Your Bird Songs" series). I would have to recommend the Stokes'CD over this one.
Unfortunately this CD set was a disappointment........2001-03-21
While most people expect wonderful things from Peterson guides, this CD set is sure to let you down.
It's is very limited in the number of birds it covers. And the recordings for each bird are minimal at best.
You are better off spending your money on the Stokes 3Cd set of Eastern Birds.
The Stokes guide has dated this once standard reference.......2000-03-15
Once the standard field guide to bird songs for eastern North America, the Peterson guide (the present edition is its third) has now been largely supplanted by the Stokes guide in terms of usefulness. With over 200 species crammed onto a single disc, the sound samples are pitifully short, which is a shame since most of these recordings (from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology's collection) are clear and beautiful. In addition, the Stokes guide only has one or two birds per track, which makes finding the species you want much easier on that CD.
This CD really deserves two reviews, one for its technical merits, which rate highly, and one for its usefulness to the birder, which rates very poorly indeed. So I'll compromise at three stars. If you are on a budget, you can pass this over with the confidence that your pennies will be better spent on Lang Elliott's superb Stokes guide. If you want a little something extra for pleasant listening and have the cash to spend, then go ahead and buy it, but ONLY if the essential Stokes CD is already on your shelf as a definitive reference.
Most of these same criticisms apply to the Peterson guide to western bird songs, which contains two CDs, about 500 species, and must place second to Kevin Colver's western guide in the Stokes series.
Buy Stokes CD Set instead.......1999-08-09
This CD is very limited in both the number of species it covers and also the number of calls/songs for each species. For the money you are better off buying Stokes 3 CD set.
Book Description
With this audio guide, you can learn to identify your favorite birds by their songs and calls alone. Backyard Bird Song includes 28 of the most common backyard birds, such as the American Robin, the Song Sparrow, and the Downy Woodpecker, arranged in groups with similar vocalizations.
Customer Reviews:
hearing is believing.......2007-04-15
Because the approach of this splendid CD is so straightforward, its value may best be explained by a first-person account of a user.
I've been enjoying backyard birds in my home in Costa Rica and now in Indiana for many years. Yet I've only rarely felt confident about linking a bird's song to its appearance. I guess I'm a visual guy. Birdsong sounded good but taught me almost nothing.
Then a helpful attendant in a Wild Birds Unlimited store steered me towards this Peterson Field Guides cd. I'm an admirer of the Peterson Field Guide books, so this was an easy sale.
Since then I've listened through the guide three or four times in my car. Already, I find my ears picking up on a particular birdsong when I'm not even paying attention. Typically, I look up and - mirabile dictu - there's the bird I've learned, almost unconsciously, to identify by its song before it appears before the eye.
That's good pedagogy. This is a good product.
Cheep. Cheep. And so much more.
Information Structured Well for new rookie bird watcher.......2007-02-21
tape and book enhances the learning process.
An excellent starter.......2000-05-03
This CD lives up to the high quality standards of the Peterson Field Guide series and is a marvelous introduction to bird songs. I have taught ornithology courses for a number of years and this is the CD I recommend to my students.
To anyone just discovering the joys of birding, visual identification of birds can be overwhelming with over 650 species found in North America alone. If visual identification is difficult, audio identification can be nearly impossible.
BACKYARD BIRD SONG comes to the rescue by focusing the listener's attention on 28 of the most common backyard birds. Learning these songs and calls will boost your confidence and enable you to identify nearly all of the birds you hear on a daily basis. The recordings are grouped into categories of similar sounds such as "sing-songers" and "whistlers." This clustering facilitates comparisons of potentially confusing bird vocalizations.
The CD's one down side is that you cannot go directly to the song of a given bird. You are limited to selecting a song grouping and then waiting for the desired bird.
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- Are You My Mother?
- Artificial Intelligence: Structures and Strategies for Complex Problem Solving (5th Edition)
- Audubon's Birds of America: The Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
- Bird Song Ear Training Guide: Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody? Learn to Recognize the Songs of Birds from the Midwest and Northeast States
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A Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern and Central North America (Peterson Field Guides)
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