The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong

The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong
by Donald Kroodsma

The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong
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Book Summary Information

Author: Donald Kroodsma
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-04-25
ISBN: 0618840761
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Book Reviews of The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong

Book Review: Awesome
Summary: 5 Stars

I love this book. Koodsma describes a brilliant, unique method and approach to teaching oneself the art and science of recognizing bird calls and songs while also delivering a very absorbing read. Koodsma is a gifted story teller. The book is built out from beautifully detailed field work diaries, rich with the emotion of discovery and an infectious appreciation for the unique character and "song" for each individual bird he's tracked and grown to know as if they were kin.

Summary of The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong

Listen to birds sing as you've never listened before, as the world-renowned birdsong expert Donald Kroodsma takes you on personal journeys of discovery and intrigue.

Read stories of wrens and robins, thrushes and thrashers, warblers and whip-poor-wills, bluebirds and cardinals, and many more birds. Learn how each acquires its songs, how songs vary from bird to bird and place to place, how some birds' singing is especially beautiful or ceaseless or complex, how some do not sing at all, how the often quiet female has the last word, and why.

Hear a baby wren and the author's own daughter babble as each learns its local dialect. Listen to the mockingbird by night and by day and count how many different songs he can sing. Marvel at the exquisite harmony in the duet of a wood thrush as he uses his two voice boxes to accompany himself.

Feel the extraordinary energy in the songs just before sunrise as dawn's first light sweeps across this singing planet. Hear firsthand the unmistakable evidence that there are not one but two species of marsh wrens and two species of winter wrens in North America. Learn not only to hear but to see birds sing in the form of sonagrams, as these visual images dance across the pages while you listen to the accompanying CD.

Using your trained ears and eyes, you can begin your own journeys of discovery. Listen anew to birds in your backyard and beyond, exploring the singing minds of birds as they tell all that they know. Join Kroodsma not only in identifying but in identifying with singing birds, connecting with nature's musicians in a whole new way.

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