One of my readers asked if I could recommend a CD for identifying birds in prairies and grasslands from their songs. I thought it would be fun to explore the topic of birding by ear, as I often hear birds but can’t see where they’re at. 
Before I begin I want to say that I am not a birder. I know a little about birds from my childhood - from a crash course in winter birds in the fourth grade, I think, and from my Mom. I’m learning more as we read the Burgess, especially because the book is organized scientifically. I studied a lot of science in high school and CEGEP, and am a logical learner. I like things to follow some kind of logical sequence when I’m learning 
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So, knowing that I’m not a birder I’d like to take a stab at recommending some resources. I have experience with the Peterson Field Guides for plants, and found them to be most helpful. In the Peterson series there are also Birding By Ear CD’s that can help a listener to identify birds by their calls. Here are the ones for North America.
Birding by Ear: Eastern and Central North America, by Robert Lawson and Richard Walton, is available on CD or audio cassette. It is a compilation of the songs and calls of 85 bird species that can be found west of the Rockies. (Houghton-Mifflin, 2002; ISBN: 0618225900) | Canada
| US |
The same authors bring us Birding by Ear: Western North America, which contains the songs and calls of more than 90 bird species. (Houghton-Mifflin, 1999; ISBN: 0395975255) | Canada | US |
A special guide just for the backyard birder is the Field Guide to Backyard Bird Song, again by Lawson & Walton. In it you will find songs and calls of 28 common birds. This might be a good starting point for younger homeschoolers. (Houghton-Mifflin, 1999; ISBN: 039597528X) | Canada | US |
The Peterson Birding by Ear series came out of a course Massachusetts primary school teacher Dick Walton offered through his local Audubon Society in the 1980’s. Bob Lawson was one of his students, and also happened to own a recording studio. The two created a sort of self-teaching course that would work well in a homeschool setting.
The recordings don’t just provide samples of bird song for the listener; they teach a birdwatcher to identify the calls and songs by describing the quality of the sound, and by using phonetics and mnemonics to translate the sound into a sound people can relate to and remember. Similar songs are organized in groups together, to make it easier to find the one you’ve heard. Each CD or cassette set (the backyard birding is just 1 but the others are 3 to a set) comes with a booklet, and there are also page references that are keyed to the Field Guides to Birds - of which there are multiple copies in the Montreal public libraries. A spectacular way to include nature study for a special needs child with visual impairment, or mobility issues that keep him from traipsing around in the woods!
To get an idea of how the series teaches, listen to this brief excerpt from the Eastern/Central edition. Audio quizzes are included, for those who like to have the feedback or need a record that reflects their child’s retention of material covered. 
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Jane Rushin at the Alabama Wildbird Conservation Association provides a review of the best birding field guides. She says the best books for beginners are those that are organized by region. She gives the Peterson and Sibley guides as examples of such. David Sibley is affiliated with the Audubon Society, and his guides are especially known for their beautiful artwork and for the many details that will help an amateur birder discover where and when to look for a specific bird. His Sibley’s Birding Basics appears to be an excellent introduction to birdwatching, and although it doesn’t deal with bird song specifically, I thought I’d mention it here because it looked quite thorough. (Knopf, 2002; ISBN: 0375709665) | Canada | US |
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Tony Phillips of SUNY has compiled an extensive listing of bird song web sites. He has divided it by geographic region for ease of use.
An excellent free tool for birding is the BioDiversity Institute’s Internet Field Guide to Birds. It is a powerful tool for identification of North American birds. Plug in just your location to generate a birding checklist of species in your area. There are many ways to search the database: begin with the bird’s name; plug in an overall body shape; use head, body, wing, tail or foot characteristics such as shape and colour.
Again, this is not a birding by ear resource, and it’s not terribly portable in the wild unless you’re using a wireless device; but you could sketch or take photos of a bird in the wild then later use the database to identify it. If you’re reading the Burgess Bird Book with your kids, why not search the database to see if the birds from each chapter live in your area? Or you might find relatives not mentioned in the chapter, that do live where you are!
A cool treat for the kids is the Avian Sleuth online interactive game. This is like a dry run for birding in the outdoors. Choose from marsh, uplands or mountains and then go on a bit of a bird safari! Players pan through a scenario and can zoom in or out using binoculars. When they come to a bird they are asked to identify it, so it would be best to either preview some of the species from the chosen habitat beforehand, or to have a field guide close by for reference. There are three levels of difficulty, and all require reading (or at least word matching) skills.
In all levels of the game the player is presented with three possible names for each bird found. Players continue until they have found all the birds and successfully identified them. At the easy level all the birds are plainly visible. At the intermediate level the bird is blurry but the player is alerted by a green ring around it; binoculars are used to bring the bird into focus. The most difficult level involves finding the bird from just the song and seeing the three possible identifications come up at the top of the screen. The player uses the binoculars to locate the bird and bring it into focus for identification. This level would be excellent for someone wanting to learn to identify the birds by their calls and songs alone.
Another aspect of the game is that it gives a simulation of different binocular types. Several brand names are available on the console, and the player can scroll through them to find one to try. There is a “Buy” button on the game that goes to a web site where the actual instrument can be purchased. Parents can limit access to this site during game play by using a pop-up blocker.
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Parents and teachers, if you haven’t already discovered the Burgess Bird Book, do check it out. It’s a wonderful resource for home or classroom - or for Guide or Scout leaders too! The chapters are wonderful stories composed by Thornton Burgess, but each contains solid information about birds - appearance, nesting and courtship habits, diet, migration, etc. When two or more birds appear together in a chapter it is usually because they are “cousins”. The bluebird and American robin are examples of related birds that appear together in a chapter. Other chapters introduce a whole series of sparrows, several wrens, some woodpeckers, and many other North American birds.
The book can be read online for free at the Baldwin Project. If you want to order a hard copy (or maybe get the grandparents to give one as a present) please buy the Yesterday’s Classics edition. These books help fund the Baldwin Project. This edition may not be in stock at your local bookseller, but is available through Amazon (Canada, US, UK) and Barnes & Noble. N.B.: Outside the US merchants don’t always have copies in stock and need time to order them from the publisher. This can take several weeks; check early, to avoid disappointment if you want the book for a specific date. (Yesterday’s Classics, 2006; ISBN: 1599151707)
I recommend North American Notebooking Pages for those who are more worksheet oriented & want to keep things nicely organized while reading the book. If you keep a little space on them somewhere, or add a couple of blank sheets in your book, you could write in your own observations about the birds you are able to observe in the wild, too. There are previews online at CurrClick, or you can go to NotebookingPages.com and download free samples.
This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.
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