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Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song | 
 enlarge | Author: Les Beletsky
Creator: Jon L. Dunn
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Category: Book
List Price: $45.00
Buy New: $31.50
You Save: $13.50 (30%)
New (26) from $31.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  172 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.8
Dimensions (in): 11 x 10.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 1932855416
Dewey Decimal Number: 598.1594
EAN: 9781932855418
Publication Date: September 21, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 167 more reviews...
 Good coffee table book November 28, 2006
83 out of 94 found this review helpful
I'm a birder, and like to have ALL the birding books. This book has a coolness factor, but definitely something to have, show, and use at home, or give as a gift to another birder. It is too heavy and bulky to take along, and the birds are not organized taxonomically. They are organized by habitat. I also found that there is the 'usual' eastern U.S. skew to the birds that were in the book. So, this is an interesting book that I will add to my birding library. I'm not even sure how much of a research source it will be. I wonder how long it will be before this technology makes it to a usable field guide. That will definitely be a usable item - not just to identify a bird song in the field, but to play the bird song to draw in nearby birds.
 What a cool book! November 16, 2006
71 out of 74 found this review helpful
As a (very) amateur birder, I am continually frustrated by hearing birds I can't see and not having a clue as to what that bird might be. This neat book links the description, the drawing AND the sound!
I think it would be an aid to more accomplished birders who try to describe bird calls to others, a joy to children just learning about birds and a help to the avian-challenged rest of us.
 So much potential, so poorly realized January 6, 2007
30 out of 33 found this review helpful
Reviewing "Bird Songs" is a bit like reviewing a talking horse. It's so amazing to hear it talk, one overlooks what it is saying.
The songs are wonderful; accessing them is a travesty.
There are two components to this item, the book and the player. The player is a solid state device glued to the back cover of the book. The 250 bird songs in the player are known to the player only by a reference number (1 to 250), which is shown in the player's LCD window.
To hear a song, one touches the play button once to awaken the device, then, by depressing an up or down key, you scroll to the reference number of the desired song. Pressing Play then plays a recorded snippet of the selected bird's song. In short, to hear a song, one must first know its number, and then one must find it.
And herein lies the first major flaw. It is a royal pain to find the reference number of a song. The book has a miserable index, organized alphabetically by common name, that only gives the page number of a bird. One must then go to the page to find the (different) reference number for the song. There is no simple way to relate page numbers to song numbers. And the index itself is difficult to use, as it is not only organized only by common name, but there is no grouping of similar species, so a Marsh Wren is under M and a Canyon Wren is under C. If you want to look up Loon, better look under C for Common Loon. All in tiny, light type. Arrrgh.
Once one has the reference number, the second flaw becomes obvious. Player scrolling acts much like setting a digital clock, first scrolling slowly, then quickly. The numbers wrap around, so one can get to say, 249, from 1 by going backwards. Thus, theoretically, one should never have to scroll more than 125 numbers. It takes a minimum of 15 seconds to scroll 125 numbers. Be prepared to spend a lot of time fiddling with the scroll buttons.
The book. Well, the pictures are nice. The organization is bizarre, by habitat, and there are no range maps, just vague descriptions. But you aren't buying this item for the book.
The songs themselves are fascinating. The recording of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker is almost worth the price by itself. And, the Amazon price is very reasonable.
A great resource and a great gift December 8, 2006
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
I have been birding for a couple years now and I love it, but it is so confounding to hear a really interesting bird call and not know what on earth it could be. This book does for the ears what a regular field guide does for the eyes, and it helps an enthusiastic novice like me get into birding even more. Not to mention that it's just cool and very easy to use. My only wish is that they would have included more calls in each recording, as often the call in the book is a specialized mating or distress call and not necessarily the one you'd be most likely to hear in the field. But I guess they had to go with what they had, and it is quite amazing to get 250 bird calls in one volume, plus pictures and descriptions. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who loves birds or loves someone else who loves birds.
Editors pick as one of the top 50 books of 2006 June 12, 2007
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
I am an avid Birder,have over 1000 books on birding in my collection and several tapes and other bird song recordings and recently (May 24,2007) wrote a review on "The Singing Life of Birds" by Donald Kroodsma. That book is extremely complicated,but astute and definitely one for very experienced Birders with a lot of knowledge already learned from years of studying bird song.
However;this new book is something entirely different. It is excellent for anyone who is interested,and just wants to start learning the basic songs of birds.From this book you can quite quickly,and with very little effort,get to identify any bird around your home.cottage,park or anywhere else you hear birds calling or singing.
This book takes the concept that has been employed for years with childern's book;namely pictures along with recordings to go along with them. When I first came across it,I thought it was just a kid's book for that reason. I opened it ,played a few songs ,and was immediately impressed. It covers the songs of 250 birds. Hence, just about all that a person ,who wants to learn how to identify most of the birds they are,are ever going to find locally. This book is so well conceived and put together that kids as young as a few years ,can use it as well as adults. In other words, this GEM of a book is for anyone with a interest in bird songs.
To anyone who is new to birding,here is one thing you can count on when you are wondering which one of the multitude of bird books that are on the bookshelves,should you buy. If you see the name Jon Dunn associated with it,like this is,you can be sure you are making the right choice.
I can tell you how good I think this book really is. If you leave it laying around ,and someone who picks it up,and they hear birds calling in the area;they will immediately try to identify it with this book. Watch their excitement when they succeed. Now for the real good part;sitting outdoors ,with birds around,you'll soon discover ,if; say there are Chickadees around,by playing their song,they will come right in close to you.If you hear a bird ,but can't see it;but you have found its song;play it a few times,and the bird will pop up and show itself.
There are a lot of reviews here,with lots of good comments.Although most are from people who are just beginners or average birders,that is very good, because that is who this book is for. There is lots more "stuff" around for expert and very knowledgeable Birders,but nothing as simple and down to earth as this book.
There are several other reviews that make points that might make you wonder if this book is as good as I have said.Believe me; these points,while some can't be denied, are nitpicking ;and shouldn't discourage you from getting it.A book as good as this ,for someone who wants to get started learning bird song has been a long time coming.
While "playing" with this book in the store,a few people gathered around me,and were enthralled with what I showed them about this book.Two of them bought a copy;and they weren't even looking for a bird song book at the time. And not only that,the cost is terrific!
Enjoy listening to and knowing which bird you are hearing!
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