Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs: Western Region
Audio CD; published April, 1999
Kevin J. Colver has recorded the sounds of nature in digital clarity for many years. His personal collection of over 400 species of bird vocalizations was the foundation to which recordings from a team of noted international recordists were added to produce, by far, the most complete library of western American bird sounds ever published. A total of 552 species are presented, including dozens of species and subspecies heard NOWHERE else. Birding from Brownsville, to Barrow, and in your own backyard will become a richer experience as you learn the sounds of these wonderful birds.
See the companion Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Western Region |
 Bird Songs of California
Geoffrey Keller & The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
3-CD set
Bird Songs of California is the product of a collaborative effort of Geoffrey Keller, the Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. It is a 3 CD set containing the recorded vocalizations of 231 species of birds found in California. From the American Bittern to Evening Grosbeaks, the sound quality and editing is suburb. Although not instructional, it is an excellent learning tool for birders.
Most exciting is the number of TMBC friends from the Kern River Preserve and Southern Sierra Research Station which were a part of this project. Bob Barnes, Mary Whitfield, Murrelet Halterman, Bob Steel, and Terri Gallion. In fact, this audio guide is dedicated to Terri Gallion. In the acknowledgments, Terri receives this accolade: “Her stunning and labor-intensive recording of the western Yellow-billed Cuckoo surely qualifies as one of the most amazing recordings of a non-passerine in North America.”
All forms of bird communication are included. That is, calls, songs, grouse beating their wings, the drumming of woodpeckers and sapsuckers, the winnowing of a Wilson’s Snipe, and for identification purposes the humming of hummingbird wings. A fun thing to do, and a test, is to identify the many bird species calling, singing, and tapping in the background. Mountain Quail are heard at least 10 times.
The accompanying booklet narrative does a fine job of describing calls, songs and other sounds of most all of the 231 birds. My favorite recordings begin with Disc 1, track 1, the American Bittern. Having had but one sighting of this species, and having not heard the bird in the field, just for laughs I often play this band. The voice is described as Tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk, followed by a low pitched gunk-a-lunk or pumber-unk. Just great.
Having heard all of the California’s grouse species, I enjoyed the thud, thud, thud-thud-ud-ud-du-ud of the Ruffed Grouse – the swishing, popping, and belching sounds of the Greater Sage-grouse – and the broo, broo, broo, broo of the elusive Blue Grouse. To bad the Greater Prairie Chicken is not a California bird, for I would like to read their rendering of the eerie sounds of this bird at first light across the hills of Nebraska.
As we said, though not an instructional tool, this is an excellent learning tool. Though a bit pricey at $29.95 (however it is a 3 CD set), I would recommend this audio guide for all California birders. It is available through Cornell’s online shop, ABA Sales and at other retail outlets such as Wild Bird Unlimited.
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