Bird Song Ear Training Guide: Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody? Learn to Recognize the Songs of Birds from the Midwest and Northeast States (Audio CD)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A unique and impressive CD audiobook providing instructions on how to recognize songs of birds. -- Midwest Book Review, March 2003

Excellent idea! Having had a chance to hear it, I'm as impressed as I thought I'd be. -- Fatbirder, December 4, 2002

The best format I've seen yet for learning birdsongs...the most fun of any songstudy CD I've used. -- Diane Porter, Birdwatching.com, November 17, 2002

Product Description

This Audio CD is designed for anyone who wants to learn how to recognize bird songs. It features the sounds of 189 different bird species found in the Midwest and Northeast States.

Each bird song recording is followed by a short description of the sound along with a common mnemonic used to remember it. Many well-known song mnemonics such as "Who cooks for you?" for the Barred Owl and "Poor Sam Peabody" for the White-throated Sparrow are included. Following the song and mnemonic, the source of the sound is revealed. By naming the bird at the end of each track, the listener is allowed to wonder and guess at the nature of the sound. Active listening, similar to what one experiences in the field while searching for an unknown bird song, is a key to engaging the memory process.

One way to use this CD is to enable the "Random Play" or "Shuffle" option on a home CD player, portable stereo, or personal computer. Although it may be frustrating at first, repetition of this "quiz" game will quickly improve recognition skills. Gaining familiarity with these songs will greatly increase any bird watcher's enjoyment and awareness of birds in their natural habitat.

Features:

- 189 bird species found in the Midwest and Northeast states
- Digital bird song recordings made in Wisconsin
- Brief narration after each song includes descriptive, memorable and often funny mnemonics
- Can be used as a field guide to learn and identify songs or as a recognition quiz game
- Easy to use alphabetical track listing of all birds and their mnemonics
- It is a great gift for any birdwatcher, beginner or advanced.
- Total running time: 60 minutes

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Caculo (January 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975443402
• ISBN-13: 978-0975443408
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,035 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #1 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Field Guides > Regional > United States > Northeast
  #1 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Birdwatching > Birds
  #1 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Field Guides > Regional > United States > Midwest

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 100 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbiased Review by the Author, November 13, 2002

By	Sam Peabody "poorsampeabody" (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bird Song Ear Training Guide: Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody? Learn to Recognize the Songs of Birds from the Midwest and Northeast States (Audio CD)

One might call this CD a companion "ear training guide" to the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs. Or maybe a condensed Birding by Ear. It falls between the two in terms of number of birds (189) and amount of narration (about 5 seconds following each bird song). It has the lovely voice of a female narrator (unusual for a bird tape) and the birds have a tinge of a Wisconsin accent.

For some, the main draw of this CD is that one is allowed to guess before being told the name of the bird singing. Others might like the number of memorable mnemonics and brief song descriptions used. For those in the Midwest, the main draw might be that all the birds were recorded in Wisconsin (although most of the birds can be heard over much of the Eastern United States). And finally, the fact that one can review or "take a quiz" on the songs of 189 birds in only 60 minutes is a big advantage over the multi-CD guides.

This is, of course, only the opinion of the unbiased author.

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique and impressive CD audiobook, March 4, 2003

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bird Song Ear Training Guide: Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody? Learn to Recognize the Songs of Birds from the Midwest and Northeast States (Audio CD)

John Feith's Bird Song Ear Training Guide is a unique and impressive CD audiobook providing instructions on how to recognize songs of birds common to the states of the Midwest and Northeast (including Wisconsin where almost all the bird songs were recorded and the post-production work was done). Each distinctive bird song is followed by a mnemonic or a short description. The bird is identified and a review sound is played again that fixes the song's identity in the mind of the listener. The Bird Song Ear Training Guide is enhanced with a quiz format which will aid the listener to focus on learning how to identify the bird songs. A complete list of bird species and mnemonics is included in an insert. All profits from this enthusiastically recommended CD instructional for birdwatchers will go to the Nature Conservancy and the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent learning disk for new birders, May 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Bird Song Ear Training Guide: Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody? Learn to Recognize the Songs of Birds from the Midwest and Northeast States (Audio CD)

Our family has owned a patch of shore/forest land in Wisconsin for 20 years although none have been birders. With this disk we easily learned to identify species and discovered the diversity that we never noticed previously. The call/naming/call format of this disk is excellent for new birders and the numbers of species covered is ideal. I use the Stokes disk set as a reference but the name/call format and large number species covered does not facilitate learning the calls.