Product Description

Drawing from the collection of the world-renowned Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Bird Songs presents the most notable North American birds including the rediscovered Ivory-billed Woodpecker in a stunning new format. Renowned bird biologist Les Beletsky provides a succinct description of each of the 250 birds profiled, with an emphasis on their distinctive songs. Lavish full-color illustrations accompany each account, while a sleek, built-in digital audio player holds 250 corresponding songs and calls. In his foreword, North American bird expert and distinguished natural historian Jon L. Dunn shares insights gained from a lifetime of passionate study. Complete with the most up-to-date and scientifically accurate information, Bird Songs is the first book to capture the enchantment of these beautiful birds in words, pictures, and song. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, located in Ithaca, New York, is a nonprofit institution focused on birds and whose mission is to interpret and conserve the earth's biological diversity through research. The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab is the major source of sound recordings of birds for research, education, conservation, the media, and commercial products.

Listen here
Trumpeter Swan
Laughing Gull
Eastern Bluebird

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #946 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-21
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

From Booklist
Here are splendid color illustrations of 250 species of birds, some showing only the male and others showing both the male and female. Drawing from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the book is divided into four parts: seabirds, shorebirds, and water birds; forest birds; woodland birds; and open-country birds. With each illustration is a description of the bird's range in the U.S and Canada and its ecology and behavior. The profiles emphasize the birds' vocalizations--both songs and calls--which can be heard on an audio component that comes with the book. By using this digital audio technology, readers will be able to relate the songs and calls to the birds' appearances. Beletsky, a notable bird biologist, has written a fascinating book that will aid bird-watchers. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Bird Songs is a significant new learning device for birdwatchers. By bringing digital audio technology to the printed book, you can relate the songs and calls of those birds you see from the comfort of your armchair. This unique and informative tool, combining text, illustrations, and sounds, should be on every coffee table. - Dr Paul Green, Director of Citizen Science, National Audubon Society

About the Author
Jon L. Dunn is an expert on the distribution and identification of North American birds. He lives in Bishop, California.

Les Beletsky is a professional bird biologist and natural history writer and editor. For more than 20 years, he has conducted ecological research on birds, concentrating on their vocalizations. He divides his time between Seattle and Whidbey Island, Washington.

Customer Reviews

Great Bird songs
This is a wonderful source for a novice such as myself. The sounds are clear and long enough to depict the typical sounds the bird sings. The only other suggestion I would make is to somehow allow the user to page through the sounds to find the sound first, then indicate the bird that makes the sound since that is the typical way we listen. We often don't see the bird, but the sound first.
Great product for introducing family to bird sounds.

Needs an index
Good bird sounds, but book badly needs an index. There are numbers to press to hear a bird song, but one has to find the page on which the particular bird is discussed to find the "song" reference number. To make things worse, the birds are not arranged alphabetically, but by type of area in which they are found - water, forest, etc. -- which don't correspond to geographic areas.

With a few hours effort on the computer, I made a proper alphabetical index with page number and song numbers, that was sorted by song and by page.

Bird Songs
Excellent book. We all love hearing the 250 bird songs incluced in the book. If you hold the search button down you can quickly go to any of the 250 songs. My grand kids spend hours with the book.