Customer Reviews

Music of the Birds

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If you love nature and are not familiar with the work of Lang Elliott, then do yourself a favor and get acquainted with him pronto! Elliott is one of America's foremost natural sound recordists and nature photographers, and here, in "Music of the Birds," he uses both talents to great effect. The author of "Common Birds and Their Songs," "Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern Region," and numerous CDs of nature's sounds here presents an examination of bird song and why it has fascinated humans for many centuries.

The book examines bird song from two main perspectives: scientific and aesthetic. Elliott dispenses solid, basic science on why birds sing, the functions of specialized bird vocalizations, and other topics that have been examined by ornithologists. He also discusses how bird songs have influenced poets, with many examples from the writings of some of the greatest of all time. Indeed, it is not difficult to see how the songs of such great singers as thrushes, larks, or others inspired writers as diverse as Shelley, Whitman, and Thoreau.

Aside from the text, the book is graced with spectacular photos, virtually all of them taken by Elliott and in magificent color, of singing birds. Any birder who knows the difficuly in spotting such songbirds as warblers will be astonished by Elliott's photos of these and many more, in the act of singing no less! As if this were not enough, tucked inside the back cover you will find a compact disc of bird songs also produced by Elliott and technically superb (as are all of his productions). Virtually every bird mentioned in the text is heard on the CD, and Elliott takes time to examine special cases of particularly striking bird songs. For example, he plays the songs of thrushes at normal and slowed-down speeds so you can hear how complicated they really are (the human ear is ill-constructed to grasp all of the sounds contained in the songs of many birds).

For its combination of both educational and entertainment value, this book is hard to beat. Lang Elliott is carrying the torch of a mostly-vanished generation of naturalists who believed in exposing the wonder in the simple worlds not so far from our own backyards (most of the birds presented here are common in at least some parts of North America). Look at these glorious pictures, listen to the splendid sounds of the birds on your CD player, and if you haven't cultivated a love of birds, you probably never will.

Lang Elliott's MUSIC OF THE BIRDS combines an engaging and informative text with some of the finest bird photographs ever published, then ices the cake with a bird-song CD like no other. Bravo!

The pictures in this book are simply beautiful, clearly showing each bird in its personal bid for American Idol. The CD offers a thrilling repertoire from each bird--so welcome on this very cold winter day. Luckily, I have most of these birds in Virginia, although some are winter visitors and are not in the mood for singing. Some stay long enough in the spring, however, to delight with song for a brief time before they head north. I've come to know them all by sight and song, in part, from other books and CDs by this same author. In this offering, he explains just enough about each bird and its song on the CD to help you remember what you've heard, and in some cases also slows the song down so you can really appreciate the intricacy of the notes. Everyone always says the Hermit Thrush has a flute-like song, and when you hear it at the slightly slower speed, it does in fact, sound just like a flute.

Longer song segments are included here than on most bird CDs so you can hear long runs and a greater variety of song for each species. What fun to hear the Mockingbird go through a long program of various imitations. The longer segments make it seem more like what you hear in real life. My Mockingbirds will go on for hours with countless imitations and my Wood Thrushes sing back and forth to one another over extended summer evenings just like what is included on this CD. What a treat to dream of summer on this 15-degree day.

The book is large--much bigger than I expected--so the pictures are especially brilliant. While in song, the birds seem to have such personalities. The photography is outstanding. Along with the descriptions of the birds and their songs, there is often some verse or quote from a famous bard with an appreciation for their beauty, which gives this book a more tranquil and artistic feel than the standard fact sheet. I'm just delighted with this purchase.

My kids think I'm crazy when I listen to this CD but I want to be able to determine what bird is calling without looking. This CD is perfect for helping me in North Carolina. Each bird call you hear is perfect in length and the speaker doesn't talk to long.

Glossy paperback, good quality. Contains 135 pages with beautiful full color photos of bird in song. Includes an audio CD featuring songbird concerts and solos.

Like every other book or recording that I've purchased by Lang Elliott, photos, text & recordings are all exceptional. It has brought me much enjoyment over the years I've had it.

This book combines beautiful full (9"x 9") page color photographs, short selections of poetry, and a CD of the songs of birds included. Lang is multi-talented, as most of the photographs were taken by him and he recorded the songs. Perhaps my favorite photo was the Horned Lark perched on barbed wire. For the poetry, he included lines from the classic naturalist such as Wordsworth, Thoreau, Muir, Longfellow, and many others. My favorite from James Lowell "Why I'd give more for one live Bobolink / what a square mile o'larks in printer's ink!"", and Elliott repeats this emphasis on the need for field experience. There is a productive tension in the book between poetic understanding and scientific categorization and identification, as Elliott says "As we learn to identify the songs of birds, our experience of the avian soundscape expands and becomes more powerful.". The inclusion of flight and early morning songs on the CD is welcome, but surprisingly includes just 4 warblers!

For readers who would like a good CD for learning songs, the Peterson "Birding by ear" series are great! For those desiring to take their listening to the next level Donald Kroodsma's The Singing Life of Bird provides scientific text and CD. For those interested in the link of poetry and birds, the new anthology of poetry "Bright Wings" edited by Billy Collins with paintings by David Allen Sibley is welcome!

One of the most beautiful books you could ever own, even if you aren't a birder. I orginally ordered this through a small local bookstore. When it arrived the owners were trying to look at the photos without really opening the book. Once I arrived to pick it up I was more than happy to share the beautiful photos throughout the book. They were so impressed they immediately ordered several more copies and kept it in stock for months.