Guide to Night Sounds, A: The Nighttime Sounds of 60 Mammals, Birds, Amphibians, and Insects (The Lang Elliott Audio Library) [Paperback]

Lang Elliott (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Lang Elliott Audio Library | Publication Date: August 11, 2004

The nighttime sounds of 60 animals

Features numerous pencil drawings and full-color photos and includes an hour-long audio CD

Information on the appearance and nighttime habits of each species

As anyone who has been captivated by the sounds of an evening outdoors knows, the nightly music of the woods can be a lovely but bewildering mix of hoots, croaks, howls, and grunts. This handy collection of field recordings and species descriptions helps you to identify the various members of the nocturnal chorus, from crickets and owls to otters, porcupines, and alligators. Illustrated with gorgeous pencil drawings and full-color photographs, it's the perfect complement to the sounds of the night.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lang Elliott is the owner of NatureSound Studio, a wildlife recording company based in Ithaca, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books (August 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811731642
• ISBN-13: 978-0811731645
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #439,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and wonderful nature guide by Lang Elliott, March 28, 2000

By 

James Remsen, Jr. (Lindenhurst, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Guide to Night Sounds (audio compact disc and 40-page booklet) (Pamphlet)

This is a truly special release from Lang Elliott, the author of numerous nature CDs and books (including the splendid "Music of the Birds" and "Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs.") On this compact disc (or cassette) and its accompanying booklet, he introduces the sounds of common North American night animals. To my knowledge, no one else has compiled a field guide to the sounds of night animals with sounds from many groups of creatures all in one place (i.e., birds, mammals, amphibians, etc.)

The recording is a constant delight and will probably make you aware of the source of many sounds you have heard but not identified before. Don't be surprised to say, "So THAT'S what that is" many times while listening to the tape or CD. Also be prepared for surprises. Think you hear cats fighting outside your window at night? They may be cats, but they also could be raccoons, which often sound remarkably like angry felines. That strange, ghostly hiss or scream you may have heard at night in the country? An angry cat perhaps, but it might be a barn owl. And there are many other special sounds identified here: the rhythmic calls of nightjars like the whippoorwill, the trills and croaks of amphibians, the surprisingly snort of the white-tailed deer.

If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you must have this guide. Take it on a camping trip with you, if you have a portable CD player or cassette player. Those night woods will not seem so forbidding anymore once you know that most of the time, the strange and fascinating sounds you hear are made by completely harmless creatures.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice, but covers to large an area, January 11, 2006

By 

desert traveler (New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guide to Night Sounds, A: The Nighttime Sounds of 60 Mammals, Birds, Amphibians, and Insects (The Lang Elliott Audio Library) (Paperback)

It's nice to listen to in the car (for a while, at least). It's pretty useless, though, since the geographical area is not limited enough. There might be a couple of those 60 animals in your area, but about 50 of 'em won't be. This should be a series of CD's: one for the northeast, one for the southwest....and so on.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What goes bump in the night, April 28, 2007

By 

S. Smith "Quality counts" (West Chester, Pa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Guide to Night Sounds, A: The Nighttime Sounds of 60 Mammals, Birds, Amphibians, and Insects (The Lang Elliott Audio Library) (Paperback)

If you live in the woods or country and are curious about what goes bump in the night, this book and CD will explain those noises. We kept hearing a wonderful creature but had no way to identify it. Turns out it was a screech owl (they don't hoot nor do they screech). This book has also helped identify several frogs & night birds. As a bonus, Lang has a very pleasant voice and the CD is well made.