Customer Reviews

The Songs of Wild Birds

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Lang Elliott is among the best and best-known recordists of birdsong in North America. His new book, The Songs of Wild Birds, is a combination of words, images, and often spectacular sounds that will delight and intrigue birders and non-birders alike.
I particularly enjoyed the eery "quartet" performed by trilling Eastern Screech-Owls; the juxtaposition of eastern and western Winter Wren vocalizations is extremely informative and useful, as are the illustrations of dialect differences in White-crowned Sparrows.

Full page photos of numerous birds are faced by a page of details. What makes this item extra special is the included CD with the call or song of each bird. It's a rare treat to see, hear and read the why's of each bird. It's great.

The close-up photos of wild birds in this book are simply breath-taking. It is not just a coffee-table book, though. The text conveys interesting information--even for someone who is well-read in ornithological literature--and the CD is superbly done. These are not the typical bird i.d. recordings, but carefully selected cuts which sometimes include rarely heard songs and calls.

The quality of the sound on the CD, and the photos are excellent. Our dog and cat thought we were playing the CD for them! Only wish it covered more than 50 birds.

The Songs of Wild Birds by Lang Elliott gives us glimpses not only into the romantic lives of birds, but into the author's life as well. Lang Elliott serves up a sumptious package: lucid, engaging, and informative text, knock-out photos, and a CD to listen to over and over again. Elliott takes the academic study of bird songs and broadens it to include the aesthetic. Bravo!