Cd Tutorials Answer Call Of Budding Birders

Sun., May 3, 1998

Rich Landers Outdoors Editor

Connecting birds with their songs has never been easier, considering the high-quality recordings and CD-ROM multimedia tutorials available.

They come in three basic types.

The simplest audio guide products are tapes or CD’s with recordings of as many bird songs as possible.

Learning the subtleties and variations of bird songs is easier with tapes or CD’s that group birds by similar songs and allow a narrator to define the differences.

Computer literate birders can tap CD-ROM productions that offer still photos, video clips, audio, maps and even quizzes to boost your birding savvy.

Birding shops are the most likely places to find a selection of these audio guides. Following are good products in the three basic niches.

“Western Bird Songs, by Peterson Guides,” (Houghton-Mifflin, $40 for two CD’s) covers 522 of the most common species found throughout North America.

This audio production works well as a companion to the Peterson Field Guide books.

“Birding by Ear: Western Bird Songs,” by Peterson Guides (Houghton-Mifflin, $40 for set of three CD’s), covers 90 bird species west of the great plains. The birds are arranged in groups with similar vocalizations. A narrator introduces each group and helps you pick out the distinctions and variations.

“Interactive CD-ROM Guide to North American Birds,” from the National Audubon Society (Knopf, $56), offers multimedia to teach about 723 birds and 62 habitats. The program includes 2,100 color photos and 700 range maps, plus 700 vocalizations. Five QuickTime video essays discuss bird behavior. You can use sorting tools to search for birds, compile your lifelist or even test yourself with birding skill builders. Runs on Windows or Macintosh.

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