Product Description

Features: Educational and entertaining method for learning bird songs. Greatly enhanced the field experience for birders across North America. Learn the songs and calls of eighty-five species of birds found east of the Rockies. Uses techniques such as phonetics, mnemonics, and descriptive words. Includes an informative 64-page booklet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23933 in Books
• Brand: Peterson Books
• Published on: 2002-04-04
• Number of items: 3
• Binding: Audio CD
• 64 pages

Review
"(Birding by Ear and More Birding by Ear) are the best tools yet for learning bird vocalizations." - Science Times

About the Author
Roger Tory Peterson, one of the world's greatest naturalists, received every major award for ornithology, natural science, and conservation, as well as numerous honorary degrees, medals, and citations, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Peterson Identification System has been called the greatest invention since binoculars, and the Peterson Field Guides® are credited with helping to set the stage for the environmental movement.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
GRAY CATBIRD
Dumetella carolinensis
(p. 248)
Disk 1: track 2: time 3:56
Habitat: Dense thickets and undergrowth. This bird often sings from
its preferred habitat and thus stays out of sight.
Voice: Song a disjointed medley of harsh, squeaky, and nasal phrases
with occasional sweet notes. Each phrase is normally given only once.
Call note: A harsh, catlike meeoow; also a harsh, crackling series
of notes.
Notes:

Text and narration copyright © 1990 by Richard K. Walton and Robert
W. Lawson. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company.

Customer Reviews

Even better on CD!
We live on 10 acres and have wondered what birds make certain calls. These CDs teach you how to learn the calls and songs in a fun way. (Who knew there was a difference in a song and a call?) We found out that we had birds we didn't know we had because we had never seen them, but after learning their songs, we started looking and have seen brightly colored orioles and indigo buntings. You would think you could see a brightly colored orange bird, but knowing what to look for is a great help. The way the author teaches is with easy to remember tricks. It is a great teaching device for kids too. There are lots of hints on how to best use the CD's too. Even knowing just a few songs makes you more aware of the sounds around you. The other night I heard "who cooks for you? who cooks for you all?" I went and woke my daughter up and asked, what bird says that? She knew right off it was a Barred Owl and got up to come hear it in person. Awesome CDs. We also bought "More Birding by Ear" but haven't had time to listen to it yet. They even have a list of songs at the end so you can see if you remember what you learned. The songs are also grouped by type to help you remember them. Similar sounding songs are also placed next to each other so that it makes it easier to tell the difference between them. There was a lot of thought put into making this such a great product and it is well worth it! I am not an audio learner, but even I am getting better at ID'ing birds by their sounds.

Best birding by ear course
If you're looking to learn how to recognize birds just by sounds, then this is it. These CD's are excellent. I would recommend them for both beginner and expert alike. I have been birding since High School and am now 37 and learned about a lot of birds that I had heard but hadn't seen. I finished these CD's and am now working on More birding by ear(the second set of this series). It's amazing the birds you recognize as you are just walking down the street or in the woods. To be able to hear a bird in the distance and know what it is is great feeling.

Excellent Source
Excellent recordings and presentation make learning bird songs easy. Highly reccomend. Combined with excellent service from Amazon made this a satisfying purchase.