Product Description

The DVD can be viewed on the living room TV or on personal computers as a 70-minute bird-filled documentary. It also serves as an audio/visual reference guide-- one can use the easy-to-use menus to quickly find a particular bird (it contains 218 species found in Midwest and Eastern North America). The DVD is full of extraordinary photography, bird songs and with video footage.

Some features unique to the DVD include a collection of 18 quizzes and a section for comparing similar-sounding birds (for example, melodic, buzzy or unmusical). The narration for each bird does not occur immediately, allowing the viewer to guess what bird she is hearing and seeing. This quiz format keeps the viewer in a state of wonder and makes learning to identify birds more engaging and fun.

The focus of the narration is bird song and bird song mnemonics (such as "Who's awake? Me too" of the Great Horned Owl, or "Quick, three beers!" of the Olive-sided Flycatcher). Also, a bonus "Soundscape" track is included without narration to simulate a field trip to different habitats such as marsh, grassland and forest. This creates a very relaxing natural background which, along with the bird photos, can keep bird-watchers of any level, kids, babies, and pets (especially cats) enthralled for hours.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15993 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-12-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Digital Sound, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

From the Actor
Most birdwatchers, myself included, already own several bird guidebooks and bird song CDs. I'll be using the DVD to test and refresh my ID skills before Spring comes around. And I like to have the no-narration slideshow section playing as background music and eye candy. The soundscape track takes you on an indoor field trip to different habitats dripping with birds (such as a marsh, forest and grassland) and is especially nice in Winter when the birds aren't around.

About the Actor
John Feith is the author of the Bird Song Ear Training Guide CD subtitled "Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody?"

Customer Reviews

Exceptionally well done!
I love this DVD! The pictures are pristine and show both sexes, the video footage sprinkled thoughout is excellent, and the sound recordings are first rate as well. The mnemonic approach is original and "fixes" the sounds more easily in your memory. I find the female narrator's voice very pleasant and easy to understand. A treat for anyone who wants to learn just which bird it is whose song and calls fill the air, especially in the spring. Oh, and another wonderful plus: Great entertainment for my two lovebirds! It cracked me up when my male belted out the song of the Indigo bunting in near-perfect imitation. A companion CD is also available so you can listen to bird songs anywhere (or entertain your birds).

Please note: this DVD has but one aim: to familiarize the viewer/listener with birds and their songs and calls. If you want to learn more about these birds, I recommend Stokes' Field Guide to Birds, simply because it packs the most information on the same page of any guide that I own. For identification purposes and range, Sibley's Guide to Birds, in my opinion, is unsurpassed. And once your interest in birds leads you to ask more questions, by all means, treat yourself to Sir David Attenborough's marvelous The Life of Birds. I have both, the DVD set and the book, and I can only urge you to get the companion book as well since it is so wonderfully written. I found that I learned even more by reading the book after I had first watched the series on PBS. Sibley's Guide to Bird Behavior is also highly recommended.

There is a wealth of information out there on these feathered wonders, but for sheer beauty and clarity of sound, this DVD is worth every penny!

Simple but Impressive
Truly, I am enjoying "Birds! Birds! Birds!" and I am purchasing a second for the friend who patiently got me into birding back when I could just about tell that a Robin is not a Cardinal. Its photography and/or videography of each Eastern bird is impressive. More than a few of the shots are artistic and not just a 'make-do' illustration. The quality of the audio is fine, and the examples of calls and songs seem to be quite useful. Curiously, I am recalling more of the mnemonic devices (such as "ee-oh-lay" for the Wood Thrush) because of the narrator's voice which is female. Though not in-depth (like the birdsong collection by Peterson's Field Guides) this is, nevertheless, as they say, a bang for the buck. (And I saved nearly $10 buying mine from one of the other new/used sellers - located in my region.) There is no accompanying booklet; and that might be a problem for some folks. However, the DVD menu lets you go to the index. There's also a category of "Sounds Like..." To stretch your knowledge, there are numerous quizzes. I can imagine that birders of less than expert capabilities - such as myself - might even take this along to view and hear on a laptop or on a car DVD player to be able to check on characteristics while in the field.

Anatomy of Birdsong
With Birds, Birds, Birds John Feith reaches a whole new audience, especially of young people who didn't have the patience to sit through a whole CD without visual accompaniment, such as his wonderful compilation, Who Cooks For Poor Sam Peabody?

I recommend this DVD to anyone who enjoyed Sam Peabody, for now you can see the actual birds who made the memorable mnemonics in the CD (not all of them, but enough to make you sit up and take notice). The whole point is to get to recognize the song and be able to identify it, and with this one-two punch you should be able to attain that objective without ever leaving your house. Here in California we are lucky enough to get regular visitors from the upper Midwest, and among them are the migrating birds. And yet viewing the fabulous color photography of BBB, I found myself wishing that I lived in Wisconsin. It's so beautiful and it almost seems you can hear the birds more clearly than you can in the California fog.

Feith provides essential support to the burgeoning community of those who would like an easy, refreshing way to fix the song of your favorite winged friend in your mind. Here you see them sing, you hear them sing, and you remember their song, the most precious and puzzling gift in the universe