Customer Reviews

Peterson Field Guide(R) to Western Birding by Ear: A Guide to Bird Song Identification (Peterson Field Guides, No 413 Audio Cassettes and Booklet)

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I've birded for a number of years but I wanted to be able to distinguish birds by their calls, especially the shy ones. This CD volme was the perfect introduction. Dick Walton's informal, almost folksy, comments made for enjoyable listening and learning. Sure there are only 91 species but one great sampling. Now that he has taught me "hooks" and "handles" I have graduated to using the Stokes CDs, but at least I can now differentiate closely related songs thanks to Mr. Walton.

If you are new to bird songs, please start with this volume. In contrast the Stokes volume presents the songs, but no commentary. It is up to you to find the hooks and handles and figure out how to memorize all the songs.

BTW, I disagree with Mr Walton on one bird. He says the California Quail is calling "Chicago, Chicago." In my field experience I am sure it is looking for "Atlanta, Atlanta."

Great CD, buy it!

As someone who is interested in improving their birding skills, I found this an excellent guide. The authors begin by explaining some basic bird facts related to vocalizations. They proceed with the recordings, which are grouped into birds with similar songs (the authors refer to this as "pairing"). This improves the listners ability to correctly identify the song with the bird. The last portion of the auditory cassette places the birds into habitat groupings without the identification of the bird. This section can be used as a test of the listners abilities or to help familiarize the listner with where each bird can most probably be found. This in turn helps the reader correctly identify birds in the field by narrowing the possibilities. Finally, the tapes have an accompaning written guide. Each bird is listed with a black and white drawing, habitat type and a written description of the song/call. The authors also reference the page number to Petersons Field Guide of Western Birds and provide a space where the listner can write his/her comments. All in all, this is an excellent resource.

If your just starting out in birding, this is a great place to begin. As it mentions in the introduction on the cd, while you look only one direction, you hear 360 degrees. I've noticed a lot more birds since I started learning their songs.

This CD was recommended by two local bird gurus as being the best for someone to begin learning songs and calls of western (USA) birds. I have accumulated other bird song and call CDs over the years and lost interest in learning. The Western Birding By Ear has held my interest and is the best CD to date.

If you're an intermediate birderer like me this is very handy guide and only covers the most common birds.