The Singing Life of Birds by Donald Kroodsma
The songs of birds have fascinated humans for thousands of years. But only recently have we began to learn and understand more about those songs. When do birds sing? Why do they sing? Do females also sing? Do birds have to learn their songs? Those are only a few questions scientists and other people have tried to find out. For many bird species this is still unknown. The knowledge of bird songs is also important for the identification of similar species and for some species the song is almost the only way to separate similar species. "The Singing Life of Birds" by Donald Kroodsma is a wonderful book to find answers to the questions above and much more. The author writes about his studies on the singing life of birds and what he has learned about it. The book is full of useful information and it also is a pleasure to read. It is not a dry scientific book but a personal tale of the author's adventures out in the field (and at the computer) where he tried to understand why and how a specific bird species or individual sings. Some examples of the author's stories are how he studied Bewick's Wrens in Oregon and how he found out that the wrens learned songs from their neighbors, how he found out that there are actually two separate species of Marsh Wrens or how he spent many hours on the roof of his house to learn about the songs of the Tufted Titmouse.One of the most fascinating stories is how Kroodsma found out that the Three-wattled Bellbird seems to learn his song (although he belongs to the suboscines, a group of passerines that are thought to not learn their songs).
These are only some examples of the fascinating stories the authors has to tell. Beside the Bellbird examples, the focus is on North American bird species. But that should not make this book uninteresting to birders outside of North America. With this book you can learn how to improve your listing skills. The authors describes all the songs with a sonogram (a visual representation of a bird song) and all the songs can be found on the CD that comes with the book. If you take some time to listen to the CD and compare it with the sonograms you will learn a lot about how to listen to birds songs and also sharpen your ears. The CD alone is worth the price of the book. This book was one of the most interesting and fascinating books I've read on birds. Highly recommended!!!
Book details:The Singing Life of Birds The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong Donald Kroodsma Houghton Mifflin 496 pages Hardcover: ISBN-10: 0618405682 ISBN-13: 978-0618405688 |
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Paperback: ISBN-10: 0618840761 ISBN-13: 978-0618840762 |