Backyard Birding Books

We live on 10 acres and have wondered what birds make certain calls. These CDs teach you how to learn the calls and songs in a fun way. (Who knew there was a difference in a song and a call?) We found out that we had birds we didn't know we had because we had never seen them, but after learning their songs, we started looking and have seen brightly colored orioles and indigo buntings. You would think you could see a brightly colored orange bird, but knowing what to look for is a great help. The way the author teaches is with easy to remember tricks. It is a great teaching device for kids too. There are lots of hints on how to best use the CD's too. Even knowing just a few songs makes you more aware of the sounds around you. The other night I heard "who cooks for you? who cooks for you all?" I went and woke my daughter up and asked, what bird says that? She knew right off it was a Barred Owl and got up to come hear it in person. Awesome CDs. We also bought "More Birding by Ear" but haven't had time to listen to it yet. They even have a list of songs at the end so you can see if you remember what you learned. The songs are also grouped by type to help you remember them. Similar sounding songs are also placed next to each other so that it makes it easier to tell the difference between them. There was a lot of thought put into making this such a great product and it is well worth it! I am not an audio learner, but even I am getting better at ID'ing birds by their sounds.

If you're looking to learn how to recognize birds just by sounds, then this is it. These CD's are excellent. I would recommend them for both beginner and expert alike. I have been birding since High School and am now 37 and learned about a lot of birds that I had heard but hadn't seen. I finished these CD's and am now working on More birding by ear(the second set of this series). It's amazing the birds you recognize as you are just walking down the street or in the woods. To be able to hear a bird in the distance and know what it is is great feeling.

Excellent recordings and presentation make learning bird songs easy. Highly reccomend. Combined with excellent service from Amazon made this a satisfying purchase.

I'm a new birder, and I have found this series really helpful. I even recognized a few birds by sound before seeing them, thanks to this series. I also gave a copy to a friend who is visually impaired, and she's enjoying it too.

This program is logically thought out and executed unlike another disk I bought (Bird Song Ear Training Guide by John Feith). Bird calls are classed by types, e.g. the most common woodpeckers are grouped together, and then explained. After the explanation, the bird call is repeated again so one can analyze the key elements of the calls. This was not done in the Feith CD.
I live next to a park that is a large tract of land that is untouched. When a tree goes down, it stays down and rots, as would happen in nature. This is not a manicured park. There are a wealth of bird calls within the park and although I can't see them, I can certainly hear them. I wanted to identify them by their calls and I will be able to with these disks. I bought another CD that I thought would help that is mentioned above, but was sorely disappointed.
If you are like me and want to be able to recognize birds by their calls, then this is the work for you.

Very good book, has lots of information beyond just bird identification. Only thing I would have done different is have pictures of both the male and female (typically each kind of bird only has one picture).

I purchased this for a gift for my husband for our anniversary. It came looking great, still in the package. It came fairly quick, about a week after I ordered it.

Thank you!

Beautiful book. Highly recommend this book to any bird and garden enthusiast. Quick delivery as well from vendor.

Purchased The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher: Birdfeeders and Bird Gardens for my mother for Christmas, she is very pleased with the book, more so then her other books she has collected for Bird Watching.

This book is great and has everything for every area of the country from how to design your yard (plants, placement, type of wildlife plants attract. It has information on all the plants ,zones to plant and where birds are in areas (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall). I brought this book to work and there are at least (5) people that were so impressed as I was and am that they are ordering the book too!!

I encountered this gem of a book when a search engine threw this curveball at me when I typed in "backyard attraction". And what a lucky find? "Heaven can wait" as my better-groomed doppelganger Meatloaf might say. A marvelous guide.

Somebody in our garden club found this journal and now we all have one! The journal format makes it perfect for us to learn about creating butterfly and wildlife gardens. It is so easy for us to get together and compare notes about what is working to bring the birds, butterflies and hummers to our gardens! We even plan to start using our journals to teach other people about the fun of gardening for wildlife!

Great product. Only criticism is that the cd case doesn't open and close properly/easily.
Fast shipment. Would recommend.

Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs can be downloaded on an i-pod and used in conjuction with "Bird Jam" software to allow easy field identification of birds. If you are a birder, and like to know what birds are around, this product will confirm your identifications. You will even be able to ID the little guys by ear. It is thorough, accurate and fun.

Over 350 bird species are represented in this set (3 CDs, 99 tracks per CD, some tracks having more than one species). I find it to be very complete; it even includes several species that only occur as accidentals in the east region.

The recordings usually include several vocalizations for each species (songs, warning calls, imitations of other birds, or chip notes). Most samples are about 35 seconds long.

The short introductory track, in which the Stokes demonstrate reading from a script, is laughably bad, but fortunately that is not the point.

I have enjoyed birding for years and am familiar with a wide range of calls, and I am finding this set very useful for reinforcement of the ones I know and for learning the ones that I only hear for several weeks a year, such as transient species of warblers. I recommend it.

About 300 species represented on 3 CDs. Good quality recordings. Ready to rip to an MP3 player for birding and bird photography outings. If you use iPod, the iTunes software makes it easy to chose a start time for each track, thus removing the 2 - 2.5 second baritone: "Great Blue Heron," etc. See my review of Kensington portable MP3 speakers - something similar with a bit more volume would be ideal.

This is the only CD that provides a complete repetoire per bird. Other CD's provide only one type of sound per bird- a call, alarm or song. You need to have a sampling of all in order to accurately identify unseen birds. I live in an important migratory bird path and until now it was frustrating trying to identify those birds in dense foliage or in flight when I could hear them much better than see them. Since I am familiar with birds most likely to visit my area, it makes identification even quicker since I first scroll to the species I suspect. I have both the Eastern and Western Field Guides since they both apply to me in Texas.

My boyfriend loves this and so do I. It has shed a new light on an old sport.

Whatever you want to know about birds, just look up the word and there is tons of information on the subject. Fast and easy!

This one is just filled with excellent ideas. After years of birding you would think there would be no new ideas...wrong! I picked up quite a lot from this book. It is well organized, easy to use and easy to read and understand. I am glad I received it as a gift and recommend you get a copy if this is where your interests are. Overall, recommend this one highly.

Here's my experience so you can discover if you are on my level or SUPERIOR to me when it comes to knowledge about bird feeding. This year we put up a super duper, no attractions spared, bird feeding center.

Did we ever get a show! We had finches, wrens, cardinals and all sorts of birds appear. We had thistle feeders and those for birds who preferred sunflower seeds. However, we also discovered that the birds inhaled food, simply seemed to suck it in like some industrial strength vacuum cleaner, small in size and...well, I wish I had a vacuum cleaner that quick and efficient! Another sign that nature trumps technology much of the time.

But....we were going into hock trying to keep those birds fed. So I bought this book partly because of the section on how to keep them fed and still afford to retire someday.

It was very helpful and now we're happy and the birds are happy. For those of you who feel just fine spending money on bird seed and not finding less costly methods of feeding the adorable little gluttons, you'll find a huge array of info in this one about how to choose feeders, which mixes work best and even how to deal with cicadas.

You can get an idea of the book's topics by using the "Search Inside the Book" feature. Of course, some things can't be taught by a book, as I learned when a bird alit on my shoulder while filling a feeder, a small gift.

But if you want info about how to attract birds, create the ideal feeders and find the mix seed mixes as well as projects you can make yourself, this IS the book to get. You can read more about it and other items on my profile page on Amazon.

I barely got to look at the thing!

I made the mistake of allowing my young nephew to glance through it a few days ago. The next thing I know he takes it home with him and won't bring it back to me. (Well, he 'would' because he's that kind of guy... but I think I am going to allow him to keep it.)

Apparently this book had the remarkable effect of sparking in him a sudden interest in the hobby of attracting and feeding birds.

Actually, all summer long we have been visited at our little place in the country by birds of all sorts and we have been feeding them everyday so they wouldn't get bored and go away, but my nephew didn't have any interest in them... that is, not until I let him look at this book.

As I said, I did not really get to look at this book, but let's base my 5 star review on the enthusiasm it sparked in him. He says it is a great book because the information within is very interesting and very in-depth. He also loves the plentiful beautiful pictures which helps keep him attracted all the more to the subject matter.

I am very pleased that a child growing up in today's sterile electronically-obsessed society can still find something very natural and positive to invest his time and interest in. Aren't you?

Very good collection of bird songs. Great companion to 'Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America'. Includes list of songs and calls. Very interesting!

The CD is marvelous! Bird songs that I have heard for years now can be identified. Birds that I did not realize are in our area can be given a name. The CD coordinates with Peterson's 5th Edition Field Guide to Birds of Eastern & Central North America.

On the positive side, there are a LOT of different bird songs recorded in this cd. It would be much more user-friendly, however, if each track contained only one bird. The sheer number of different bird songs, combined with the not-so-convenient access to individual bird songs, makes this cd more appropriate as a comprehensive reference for use with the written field guide, or perhaps a field guide for someone already an expert, rather than a usable field guide for a more casual birder. Not something I would recommend if you simply want a cd that will help you recognize common bird songs as you are walking through the woods.

A good CD and helpful index booklet. A booklet with color pictures of the male and female birds would be a helpful option even if it was at an additional cost.

An interesting compilation of songbird sounds along with the name of each bird. Does not go into the wide variation of song that many birds are capable of, eg. the Carolina Wren. Somewhat helpful as an addition to Peterson's field guide to birds.

Most birdsong CDs/tapes are lengthy "lists" of birdsongs. The "Birding by Ear" series is a unique tutorial that teaches you to recognise and recall birdsongs. If you want to learn to identify birds by their songs and calls this is the product for you! Ideal for birders East of the Mississippi!

If you live in North America east of the Mississipi and want to identify birds by ear, read on...

This audio set is a very well thought out and produced tutorial for introducing beginning "ear" birders to the world of birding by ear. The audio quality is excellent with several renditions of each song and call. The pace is well suited to the target audience - only after repeated listening will you want to skip ahead through sections. The groupings of similar songs seem well designed, and reflect situations in the field that pose problems. Each song is described verbally, with an onomatopoetic description. I wish the CD were coded so that sub-tracks could be accessed directly without the introductory descriptions, but the design of this set isn't as encyclopedia of song, rather as short course in learning how to identify song.

Buy this and the "More birding by ear", listen to them for 10 - 30 minutes a day (great drive time listening), and master the art of birding by ear!

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!

....This set of audio tapes was a disappointment to me. I had wanted a set of bird songs to accompany my new Peterson Eastern Birds field guide, 4th edition.( Previously, I had owned the 2nd edition and its excellent, page-coordinated, accompanying tapes and had used them for years.) I bought this new set of audio tapes blind, so to speak, because they were shrink-wrapped with no real description visible. No one in any of the retail stores I consulted knew anything about them nor was willing to break into the shrink-wrapping.
....Birding by Ear, Eastern/Central is actually a 3-tape short course in identifying bird calls. It is essentially useless for field identification. To make use of this set of tapes, one would have to sit down and listen and listen and listen to interminable commentary by a sonorous male voice introducing bird calls in clusters that are of minimal use because they are grouped by similarity, which often doesn't translate into geography or habitat. The second side of the third tape is a "review" that is actually a test.... one must listen to a series of unidentified songs and try to remember what they are, after having spent the hours required to listen to the other 5 sides of the tapes.
.... The up side of this set of tapes is that the bird song recordings are excellent. They include both the song and the call. (But they are useless in the field in this format.)

Great learning tool for the novice and a great reminder for the seasoned veteran.

If you love listening to birdsong, this sequel to Birding by Ear is a must. First, I loved the first CD, Birding by Ear. The narrator takes you through many common birdsongs and gives you a handle on how to remember the song. I can now, for example, hear a Broadwinged Hawk before I ever see it; that is just one example of the skill one can obtain from listening to Birding by Ear. More Birding By Ear goes one step further than the first series; it gives you songs of coveted species of birds - birds such as Henslow's Sparrows, Northern and Louisiana Waterthrushes, Black and Yellow Rails - birds that are harder to find, elusive, or a challenge when making a visual ID. The narrator is superb - clear, concise, easy to remember; he makes what could be difficult simple. I simply love this CD - it is an indespensible tool!

I purchased the Birding by Ear cd collection as well as this one. I prefer the first, simply because it features more of my favorite bird friends; however, this, like the first one, is set up in a very easy to listen to and learn manner. Very soothing voice along with the song bird calls and songs - how can you go wrong?

this CD is perfect, it is a compliment to Birding by Ear and having both of these is invaluable to learning the calls of the birds I see and hear in my area. I had heard the CD at my local Audabon shop and almost bought them there, Amazon was $10. cheaper and I bought both CD's. They are a joy to listen to and are very helpful to me.

I've been listening to the predecessor of "More Birding by Ear," i.e. "Birding by Ear (Eastern and Central North America)" for over a year now, and the music-processing regions in my brain are finally sorting the symphony of bird song in the woods and swamps around our house into individual melodies. I strongly recommend that you start with Walton and Lawson's "Birding by Ear" as it has recorded the songs and calls of eighty-five common species. "More Birding by Ear" provides recordings of ninety-six additional Eastern and Central North American species, many of them, such as the shore birds, not often heard outside of their specialized habitats.

For most people, bird calls may produce nothing more than a song that is hard to get out of the head. These two three-CD sets will help them make sense of those songs. I was so encouraged by the calls I had learned from these CDs that I signed up as a volunteer for the Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas. So far I've identified forty-one birds in my 'priority block,' many of them by song alone.

I don't know whether I'll actually ever see a Red-eyed Vireo, an Oven Bird, or a Veery but I hear them almost every day now, calling from the forest canopy or deep in the swamp, or echoing eerily down the river at dusk.

Yet oddly enough, once I've identified a bird call on the CD, such as "More Birding by Ear's" Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, I begin to see Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers everywhere. Location by song must be giving my eyes a kick start. Now I'm beginning to suspect they're one of the commonest woodpeckers in our neighborhood!

The narrative that accompanies the bird song on these CDs will both entertain and inform you. Who will ever be able to forget the song of the Olive-Sided Flycatcher once it is translated into the catch-phrase, "Quick, three beers!"

If you're serious about your birding, and want to identify birds by song, as well as by binoculars and field guides, these CDs are priceless.

MORE BIRDING BY EAR is the follow-up to BIRDING BY EAR. BIRDING BY EAR presented 85 species of birds. MORE BIRDING BY EAR presents 96 additional species. MORE BIRDING BY EAR follows the same format as BIRDING BY EAR. Species are grouped according to similar types of vocalizations. Primary songs and calls are presented. In some cases, other songs and calls are also presented. Vocalizations are analyzed, and comparisons are made to other, similar sounding birds. Phonetics and tips are suggested to help the listener to remember the vocalizations. It is suggested that you complete BIRDING BY EAR before going on to MORE BIRDING BY EAR.

Species included in More Birding by Ear are:

DISK 1: Sora, Virginia Rail, Clapper Rail, King Rail, Yellow Rail, Black Rail, Pied-billed Grebe, Least Bittern, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Wood Duck, Great Blue Heron, Marsh Wren, Least Flycatcher, Acadian Flycatcher, Willow Flycatcher, Alder Flycatcher, Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, Pine Siskin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Winter Wren, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Common Nighthawk, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Evening Grosbeak, Osprey, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Black-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Fish Crow, Common Raven, Swainson's Thrush, Bicknell's Thrush, Boat-tailed Grackle, Rusty Blackbird, American Pipit, Horned Lark.

DISK 2: Prairie Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Palm Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Louisiana Waterthrush, Swainson's Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Canada Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Savannah Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Bachman's Sparrow, Henslow's Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Seaside Sparrow, Common Loon, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Blue-headed Vireo.

DISK 3: Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher, Black-Bellied Plover, American Golden-Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Upland Sandpiper, Willet, Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Sanderling, Pectoral Sandpiper, Common Snipe, Royal Tern, Caspian Tern, Common Tern, Forster's Tern, Least Tern.

At the end of DISK 3 is a "test." All 96 species are grouped by habitat. The songs and calls are presented, but in a different order from the learning groups. The listener is not told which bird he is listening to. This can be frustrating at first, but is also a good way to learn. I found that the first few times through, I missed practically all of them. But bit-by-bit, I began to identify some of the calls. As I mastered more of the calls, it became easier and easier for me to identify the remaining ones.

I bought this book, hoping to find information and charts about backyard birding, along with some practical information and tips. I am merely beginner. (Probably will never be an expert, but I can live with that)

While this book does include this sort of the information, I wish there is more of it. (yes, a data junkie I am) A lot of information listed seems to be rather general. What's there that I don't really particularly expect is that there is a lot of information about the history of backyard birding, agriculture impact on the bird ecology and ornithology schools.

Not to make fun of this, but perhaps in a charming way, I must admit the writing style is a bit old fashioned. It's rather a slow read, and yes, sometime it feels like my grand mother is reading it to me. "These days, they just don't them bird feeders like we used to..." While I would recommend this book in general, it is not the best source for concise reading and information go-to.

Backyard Birding In The Northeast United States by Elmer Waldemar Eriksson is an extensive and "reader friendly" guide for backyard birdwatchers. Covering the do's and don'ts of bird feeders and bird food; how to deal with squirrels; providing nesting sites; and a great deal more, Backyard Birding In The Northeast United States is a 120-page satisfying introduction to the wonderful and pleasant hobby of birdwatching in the northeastern region of the United States. Enhanced with numerous appendices from attracting hummingbirds, to James J. Audubon, to the possible life spans of North American birds, Backyard Birding In The Northeast United States has much of value and interest to offer birdwatchers elsewhere in the country as well!