Review of 'Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
As advanced birders see details on birds that are often invisible to beginners, Donald Kroodsma hears aspects of birdsong inaudible to most of us.
Although this book can certainly be used for IDing, if you're trying to find a simple book to identify birds by their song, you'll probably want to check your library for something specialized for your general area.
Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist goes much further and guides you not just to hear but to deeply listen to birds. Mr. Kroodsma guides you through the concepts and tools to become engaged and engrossed with the songs and calls of the birds of North America. Despite the obviously specialized language needed, he keeps the book conversational and entirely accessible to even the newest beginner.
Additionally, the accompanying website is a vital and remarkable source of information and recordings that are essential in understanding the text (don't skip them!). …
As advanced birders see details on birds that are often invisible to beginners, Donald Kroodsma hears aspects of birdsong inaudible to most of us.
Although this book can certainly be used for IDing, if you're trying to find a simple book to identify birds by their song, you'll probably want to check your library for something specialized for your general area.
Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist goes much further and guides you not just to hear but to deeply listen to birds. Mr. Kroodsma guides you through the concepts and tools to become engaged and engrossed with the songs and calls of the birds of North America. Despite the obviously specialized language needed, he keeps the book conversational and entirely accessible to even the newest beginner.
Additionally, the accompanying website is a vital and remarkable source of information and recordings that are essential in understanding the text (don't skip them!).
Mr. Kroodsma has done something quite impressive with this book -- despite our heavily visually-biased culture, you might just come away agreeing with him that it's a shame some people are happy to tick a bird off their list after only seeing it.