1) Pieplow, Nathan. Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Western North America. 2019. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Vinylbound: 632 pages. Price: $28.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: A comprehensive field guide that uses an innovative Sound Index to allow readers to quickly identify unfamiliar songs and calls of birds in western North America.
Bird
songs and calls are at least as important as visual field marks in
identifying birds. Yet short of memorizing each bird’s repertoire, it’s
difficult to sort through them all. Now, with the western edition of
this groundbreaking book, it’s possible to visually distinguish bird
sounds and identify birds using a field-guide format.
At the core of this guide is the spectrogram, a visual graph of sound. With a brief introduction to five key aspects—speed, repetition, pauses, pitch pattern, and tone quality—readers can translate what they hear into visual recognition, without any musical training or auditory memorization.
The Sound Index groups similar songs together, narrowing the identification choices quickly to a brief list of birds that are likely to be confused because of the similarity of their songs. Readers can then turn to the species account for more information and/or listen to the accompanying audio tracks available online.
Identifying birds by sound is arguably the most challenging and important skill in birding. This book makes it vastly easier to master than ever before.
RECOMMENDATION: An interesting way to learn bird vocalizations.
2) Kaufman, Kenn. A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration. 2019. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Hardbound: 282 pages. Price: $26.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: A close look at one season in one key site that reveals the amazing science and magic of spring bird migration, and the perils of human encroachment.
Every spring, billions of birds sweep north, driven by ancient instincts to return to their breeding grounds. This vast parade often goes unnoticed, except in a few places where these small travelers concentrate in large numbers. One such place is along Lake Erie in northwestern Ohio. There, the peak of spring migration is so spectacular that it attracts bird watchers from around the globe, culminating in one of the world’s biggest birding festivals.
Millions of winged migrants pass through the region, some traveling thousands of miles, performing epic feats of endurance and navigating with stunning accuracy. Now climate change threatens to disrupt patterns of migration and the delicate balance between birds, seasons, and habitats. But wind farms—popular as green energy sources—can be disastrous for birds if built in the wrong places. This is a fascinating and urgent study of the complex issues that affect bird migration.
RECOMMENDATION: If you like the author's other works, you should enjoy this one.
At the core of this guide is the spectrogram, a visual graph of sound. With a brief introduction to five key aspects—speed, repetition, pauses, pitch pattern, and tone quality—readers can translate what they hear into visual recognition, without any musical training or auditory memorization.
The Sound Index groups similar songs together, narrowing the identification choices quickly to a brief list of birds that are likely to be confused because of the similarity of their songs. Readers can then turn to the species account for more information and/or listen to the accompanying audio tracks available online.
Identifying birds by sound is arguably the most challenging and important skill in birding. This book makes it vastly easier to master than ever before.
RECOMMENDATION: An interesting way to learn bird vocalizations.
2) Kaufman, Kenn. A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration. 2019. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Hardbound: 282 pages. Price: $26.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: A close look at one season in one key site that reveals the amazing science and magic of spring bird migration, and the perils of human encroachment.
Every spring, billions of birds sweep north, driven by ancient instincts to return to their breeding grounds. This vast parade often goes unnoticed, except in a few places where these small travelers concentrate in large numbers. One such place is along Lake Erie in northwestern Ohio. There, the peak of spring migration is so spectacular that it attracts bird watchers from around the globe, culminating in one of the world’s biggest birding festivals.
Millions of winged migrants pass through the region, some traveling thousands of miles, performing epic feats of endurance and navigating with stunning accuracy. Now climate change threatens to disrupt patterns of migration and the delicate balance between birds, seasons, and habitats. But wind farms—popular as green energy sources—can be disastrous for birds if built in the wrong places. This is a fascinating and urgent study of the complex issues that affect bird migration.
RECOMMENDATION: If you like the author's other works, you should enjoy this one.
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