BIRDING BY EAR, Eastern and Central North America - Peterson Field Guides

Series edited by Roger Tory Peterson

Readers   : Richard K. Walton & Robert W. Lawson
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (1990, 2002)
ISBN      : ISBN-10: 0618225900; ISBN-13: 978-0618225903
Format    : MP3, from 3 CD's. 28 tracks.
Bitrate   : 128 kbps (iTunes 7, stereo, 44kHz)
Genre     : NATURE Birds & Birdwatching


Great learning resource for identifying birds by song and call.
Covers 85 species of birds.
Tracks contain narration as well as bird calls and bird song. 
Birds are grouped on a track based on similarity of song - for example, the Mourning Dove is on the Owl track.
At the end of the third CD, bird songs and calls are grouped together by habitat. 

Eastern/Central is generally anything East of the Rocky Mountains.

Chances are that if you're downloading this, you have a field guide of his on your shelf.
For quick identification and info, Peterson is the standard.
Of course, the ultimate reference is "Sibley's Field Guide to Birds." (sibleyguides.com)

Cheers, FerraBit
May 2009

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Tory_Peterson
http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/peterson
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  BIRDING BY EAR uses an educational and entertaining method for learning bird songs. Instead of merely providing a catalog of bird song samples, BIRDING BY EAR actually teaches. This proven method has greatly enhanced the field experience for birders across North America. The authors have created learning groups of similar vocalizations and clearly point out distinguishing characteristics.   
  Using techniques such as phonetics, mnemonics, and descriptive words, Walton and Lawson provide a context for learning the songs and calls of eighty-five species of birds found east of the Rockies. Combine the auditory instruction here with the visual features of the Peterson Identification System. Page numbers in BIRDING BY EAR's booklet refer to species descriptions in the PETERSON FIELD GUIDE TO BIRDS OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA, fifth edition.

"(Birding by Ear and More Birding by Ear) are the best tools yet for learning bird vocalizations." - Science Times

Designed to help listeners recognize birds of eastern and central North America by their songs and calls. 
Points out exactly what to listen for to tell one bird from another.

Recordings by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics.
Sponsored by the National Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute.


  From Wiki:
"In this century, no one has done more to promote an interest in living
creatures than Roger Tory Peterson, the inventor of the modern field guide"

  Roger Tory Peterson (1908 – 1996), was an American naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator, and held to be one of the founding inspirations for the 20th century environmental movement. 
  In 1934 Roger Peterson published his seminal Guide to the Birds, the first modern field guide, which sold out its first printing of 2‚000 copies in one week, and subsequently went through 5 editions.
  He edited or wrote many of the volumes in the Peterson Field Guide series on topics ranging from rocks and minerals to beetles to reptiles. He developed the Peterson Identification System, and is known for the clarity of both his illustrations of field guides and his delineation of relevant field marks.
  Peterson received every major American award for natural science, ornithology, and conservation, as well as numerous honorary medals, diplomas, and citations from America and elewhere, including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Order of the Golden Ark of the Netherlands.