Link to story (with audio):
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/21/132235223/bird-songs-bible-tweets-the-old-fas=
hioned-way?ft=3D1&f=3D1008
or short link:
http://tinyurl.com/28lgpq5
Text:
December 21, 2010
There's a new book out that is unlike any other =97 it features characters =
with names like Hawaii creeper and bufflehead =97 and strangest of all: it =
tweets. And it doesn't tweet in the 21st century, social media sense, but i=
n the good, old-fashioned bird-call sense. The Bird Songs Bible is a massiv=
e volume that comes with a built-in audio player featuring hundreds of bird=
songs.
The 10-pound, $125 tome was edited by bird expert Les Beletsky and features=
recordings from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It is billed as "The Comp=
lete, Illustrated Reference for North American Birds."
"I think 'bible' really says it all," Greg Budney, audio curator at Cornell=
, tells NPR's Robert Siegel. "It covers over 728 species of North American =
birds including birds of Hawaii."
Each bird is listed with an illustration, information about its species, an=
d a number. The number corresponds to audio recordings =97 the " 'phee-phew=
' call of the Mississippi Kite" or the " 'cackle' call of the Crested Aukle=
t," for example =97 all stored in the book's built-in audio player.
The Cornell recordings are crisp and clear =97 Budney says they were made u=
sing a portable field recording system and a parabolic microphone =97 "a di=
sh not unlike the satellite television dishes that we all are so familiar w=
ith today, with an audio microphone mounted in it," Budney describes. (You =
can see a photo of Budney collecting sound here.)
The book includes hundreds of song recordings, such as the distinctive, whi=
stling call of the Northern bobwhite. Budney says it's a well-adapted sound=
.
"Clear whistles propagate really, really well in the shrub habitat that bob=
whites are found in," he explains.
The call of the Atlantic puffin would lead a listener to believe that the b=
ird has had a spectacularly bad day. "I envision a miniature chain saw," Bu=
dney describes. The species has seen its share of bad days on the Atlantic =
Coast. "It was virtually extirpated from the coast of Maine," Budney says, =
"but was brought back through the efforts of Audubon biologist Steve Kress.=
You can now go to some of the islands off the coast of Maine and hear this=
sound for yourself."
The red-breasted nuthatch is a small songbird that lives in Canada, Alaska =
and the Northern U.S. Its call isn't pretty =97 but it is tenacious.
"It's one of those vocalizations," Budney says, "when you're out on a cold,=
winter day [amid] snow-covered conifer trees, and you hear a red-breasted =
nuthatch, you know that life survives; it persists through the dead of wint=
er. The red-breasted nuthatch is just one of those lively, little species o=
f winter."
Though it might be tempting to pull out this comprehensive reference guide =
while out on bird-watching expeditions, the Bird Songs Bible actually comes=
with a warning: "Limit playing of the bird calls when you are in birded ar=
eas."
That's to prevent local birds from getting confused and territorial, Budney=
explains. When a bird hears a call from its own species, it may interpret =
it as another bird intruding upon its territory =97 and then will feel the =
need to defend itself. Just a hazard that comes with owning the Bird Songs =
Bible =97 a book that sounds so much like real life.
"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists/
<*> Your email settings:
Digest Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|