Common Birds and Their Songs (Book and Audio CD)

I decided to get serious about learning bird song for the Eastern US but had a hard time figuring out which CD to buy. What I found was no one CD does it all, they all have pros and cons. I ended up with 4 CDs -- and a DVD. Below is my take on them. In the end, while it took a bit of persistence, learning bird song has been an extremely rewarding experience, adding a new dimension to any walk.I started with Feith's  Bird Song Ear Training Guide: Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody? Learn to Recognize the Songs of Birds from the Midwest and Northeast States  (1 CD). The big advantage of this CD is that it gives the song/call first, and then identifies it. So you can download the clips to an iPod, set it on random, and constantly test yourself. It covers 189 species, which is a lot. Finally, the narrator has a pleasant voice and often gives mnemonic suggestions (e.g., "Over here dear" for the Baltimore Oriole). This CD has two big disadvantages. First, many of the songs/calls are very short (many less than a few seconds). Second, there are very few songs/calls given for each bird (usually only one or two). In retrospect, they simply tried to cram too many birds onto one CD. These two defects greatly undercut the value of an otherwise good disk. Also, the birds are coupled so that if you download clips and try and randomize them you will always get the same two birds paired in the same order (the birds are ordered by alphabet). This makes it hard to learn the second birds based solely on the song of the bird - the Turkey always comes after the Towhee.A friend gave me the product on this page: Elliott and Read's "Common Birds and Their Songs." In contrast to "Bird Song Ear Training Guide" this disk provides a variety of lengthy high quality songs/calls for each bird. It pretty thoroughly covers 50 of the most common birds. It also comes with a glossy softcover book with great pictures and informative one page write-ups. I have a few problems with this disk. First, the bird is identified before each call, so it's hard to test yourself. Second, I'm sure Lang Elliott is a very nice man, but he doesn't have the most sonorous voice. Finally, the audio CD does not provide any mnemonics and there are only a few in the book.Another friend gave me Elliott's  Know Your Bird Sounds, Volume 1: Yard, Garden, and City Birds . This is similar to "Common Birds and Their Songs" but only covers 35 birds (as opposed to 50) although some are not included in "Common Birds." It also comes with a book with nice photographs but has less information on the birds and just focuses on describing their songs. The CD includes more information on the bird song than "Common Birds" (Elliott essentially reads the book) but has the same drawbacks; mainly, it identifies the bird before the song.Having read that it greatly helps to simultaneously see and hear a bird singing its song, I purchased Feith's DVD  Birds, Birds, Birds! An Indoor Birdwatching Field Trip DVD Video Bird and Bird Song Guide . This was a disappointment. In general it is the "Bird Song Ear Training Guide" CD (see above) matched up with still photographs and occasional video footage of the appropriate bird. It includes about a dozen more birds than the CD and can be arranged by "sound alikes" and set up to give one a quiz, but the drawbacks that undercut the CD - the brevity of the songs and lack of diversity of calls per bird - undercut the DVD. If you want to look at a bird while you hear its song, consider buying one of Elliott's CD/book combinations, like the one on this page.Having made progress but still unsatisfied, I finally broke down and bought Walton and Lawson's  Birding by Ear: Eastern and Central North America (Peterson Field Guides(R)) . It is a nice combination of lots of birds (about 85) with a long and diverse set of song/calls for each. The birds are also categorized by the similarity of song, which I found a helpful learning device. It comes with a paper pamphlet giving a very short description of each bird and a nice list of mnemonics at the back. The CD gives a fair amount of information along with the songs and is easy to listen to. The biggest drawbacks are the birds are identified before the song (although there are some quizzes arranged by habitat that compensate for this somewhat) and the clips go on for so long, due to the narration and groupings, that you can't easily download them onto an iPod and test yourself. I guess nothing is perfect.

Common Birds and Their Songs (Book and Audio CD) May 16, 2011 What a delightful book & CD!I was looking for a bird book for beginners. This is it! It lists 50 of the more popular birds in North America. The pictures are stunningly gorgeous, providing a wonderful recognition aide for beginners. The soundtrack is awesome!! Mr. Elliott has provided fantastic, clear sound files of the songs of these birds, complete with the name of the bird attached to the sound file. This is an audio CD. I wanted to have the sounds outside with me on my walks so I put them on my MP3 player. The title of each sound file (identifying the bird) is clear and easy to access. I take the book and can quickly refer to the bird pictures and information that goes with each sound file. There is also information provided on each bird. This is a short book but covers that which a beginner would need. Grade school children through beginner adults can learn birding from this book.These are the birds: BACKYARD/CITY CLASSIFICATION -- American Robin, Baltimore Oriole, Northern Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, Blue Jay, Am. Crow, Mourning Dove, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, House Wren, Black-Capped Chickadee, White Breasted Nuthatch, Cedar Waxwing, House Finch, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Chipping Sparrow, Evening Grosbeak, COUNTRYSIDE -- Killdeer,Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Eastern Kingbird, Barn Swallow, Eastern Bluebird, Yellow Warbler, Indigo Bunting, Am. Goldfinch, Eastern Towhee, Eastern Meadowlark, Brown-headed Cowbird, WETLAND -- Canada Goose, Mallard, Wood Duck, Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Tree Swallow, Marsh Wren, Common Yellowthroat, Red-winged Blackbird, FOREST -- Ruffed Grouse, Wild Turkey, Barred Owl, Great Horned Owl, Pileated Woodpecker, Wood Thrush, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Dark-eyed Junco.I take my mini-recorder with me on my walks and record the birds that I hear at that time. Then, I can take my time going through the sound files to match the sound that I heard on the walk (you do not always see the bird, especially if you don't know what to watch for). I am finding this book and sound files to be very helpful. Hopefully you will do likewise. I will be buying more books by Lang Elliott and Marie Read!Happy birding!

I am trying to learn about the birds I see through my kitchen window, and that I hear when I water the plants on our back deck. So I'm a real beginner. Common Birds and Their Songs is close to an ideal book for me, and for anyone wanting a clear, direct, and gorgeous book as well as CD. Elliott and Read's photos, text, and recordings integrate almost flawlessly. The 50 birds are the ones many of us would recognize, but want to know a little more about. In short order, I felt that I had gone through a semester of education -- and loved every avian minute.The sound quality is outstanding. I listen through headphones on my laptop, follow along with the book text and pictures -- and watch the birds out the window. It's a little ecosystem of learning and enjoyment to the fullest. The photos are crisp and illustrative, and the text brief and helpful. While an intermediate birder would find the book too simple, anyone wanting good quality birdsong recordings and a great start on learning about common American birds will be far from disappointed with this gem.