Birding by Ear: Eastern/Central

Peterson Field Guides #38

by Richard K. Walton, Robert W. Lawson

An educational and entertaining method for learning bird songs from the bestselling Peterson Field Guides. Instead of merely providing a catalog of bird song samples, Birding By Ear actually teaches. This proven method has greatly enhanced the field experience for birders across North America. Richard K. Walton and Robert W. Lawson have created learning groups of similar vocalizations and clearly point out distinguishing characteristics. Using techniques such as phonetics, mnemonics, and descriptive words, the authors provide a context for learning the songs and calls of eighty-five species of birds found east of the Rockies. Combine the auditory instruction here with the visual features of the Peterson Identification System. Page numbers in Birding By Ear 's booklet refer to species descriptions in Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America .

Genres: Birds, Reference, Science, Animals, Audiobook, Nature, Nonfiction

64 pages, Audio CD

First published March 1, 1989

Reviews

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am still going to listen to these CDs about one million more times, but I've gone through it often enough to have an opinion. And that opinion is: "awesome."

This CD has helped my birding immensely, mostly by making me feel like less of a dumbass. Instead of hearing a bird and thinking, "dur, a bird!" I now think thoughts like "that is a woodpecker maybe I think!" or "oh man that was totally the first bird on track 2 of disc 3!"

No but seriously, this thing is great. It reviews the calls and songs often enough to get the picture, and groups them for useful comparisons. It has a little bit of a sense of humor. It includes all the biggies in the area (including Canada geese and house sparrows and other "commoners," which made me feel smart because I already knew those dudes.) The inclusion of call notes in addition to songs is great -- the birds are not always going to be singing beautifully to you, sometimes they are yelling or complaining or whinnying or whatever, and now I know that that's just a dumb robin and I don't have to go chasing after him.

So, yeah! Birding by ear! It's a very important part of birding, and thanks to these CDs, I feel like I have a handle on it.

[Mary Lou · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was surprised when I went to count the number of birds that were recorded for this book and counted nearly 90 varieties. As I listened, it seemed much more limited. And it seemed looooong. Lots of repetition, space between songs (though I understand that this real-time recording could be helpful for some), and comparisons of similar songs that seemed to go on forever. The booklet was helpful, but would have been much more so had there been color photos rather than black and white drawings. And while it doesn't have bearing on my rating, I was frustrated that the bird whose song I hear early every morning was not included, and I still can't identify it!

[Steven Blaisdell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bucking the trend here. Bought this with high expectations based on the many glowing reviews, but I am getting rid of it and going with Stokes. The only way to learn bird calls (or anything) is with repetition, so you must listen over and over. I found that what I was learning wasn't the bird calls but the narrator's versions of the calls. I also noticed that I was spending far more time listening to narration than I was to birds, which is not why I bought the discs. Worse, I found very little of the narration to be helpful at all; the extended soliloquies on the nature of the calls (instead of, you know, playing the calls themselves) actually started to get incredibly irritating. The extended, largely useless narration also led to my mind wandering and forgetting which bird was being talked about. I'm not stupid or inattentive; this is just a bad pedagogical model.

Far more effective would've been much briefer intros to the calls and songs, then repeated playings of the songs and reminders of which bird it is, then brief tests with answers at the end of each section. The comparisons between birds were good, more of that please.

Do not buy this unless you want to have some guy's voice stuck in your head, or you happen to enjoy listening to someone talk about something instead of doing it.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given these CD's as a gift from a birding friend who likes to wander around my land. She is determined that I am going learn who I am looking and listening too. Apparently, my few areas is on a good spot on the migration trail and offes resources, water, woods & pasture and food to attract many of the birds that pass through.

I had to admit it was quite the thrill to correctly identify a few of the birds with simpler songs. I think this does a very good job although it is not exactly the most exciting thing I have listened to.

Properly intended for someone with just a little more skill than me but not an expert. I have listened multi times and need to many, many more. It gets more interesting listening once you start to hear and identify real bird by their songs. I have listened multi times and need to listen many, many more. But starting to be able to pick out a few birds with simple songs.

I would recommend to a beginning birder or just someone like myself who enjoys sitting on her deck and watching the antics of all the creatures she shares the yard with.

[Jim Minick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential for learning bird calls--and who wouldn't want to learn them! I used this back in the 1990s and it stuck well. Great reference and teaching tool.

[Tiffany]

Currently Listening to...

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good introduction to the songs and calls of birds in eastern North America. I review this and More Birding by Ear each spring to refresh my memory of the songs.