RE: An idea for learning to bird by ear

["Tomm Lorenzin" <skytomm@1000plus.com>]

> It was a fair amount of work to do all this,
> but now I have some really good tapes.
 ~ John Argentati

> Unfortunately, many 
> birders these days take up birding in their thirties rather 
> than their teens, and have already lost the desire to go 
> crashing into the woods after an unknown chip note.
 ~ John Wright

"There ain't no free lunch!" 
 ~ Tomm Lorenzin, et al.

Listening to tapes and CDs over and over again helps.  It really does.  Even
listening to the non-local birds' sounds. E.g... I recall being at Merritt
Island N.W.R several years ago in the pouring rain.  I could see poorly
rafts of ducks that I could hear clearly.  By sound, they were American
Wigeons (then a new species to me).  I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't
heard them several hundred times on tape. The same for those lifers.  Just
last week, I heard but could not see my first Black-billed Cuckoo (nr
Brooksville, FL).  I didn't know, at first, what I was hearing.  I only knew
that I had heard it before (on tape).  As I thought about it for a while, my
tardy recall settled upon BBCU, and I confirmed it later in the day by
finding it and playing it on CD.

That, to me, is the real value of listening to CDs and tapes repeatedly: the
fact that you can say "I have heard that sound" even if you cannot
immediately identify its maker.  Being familiar with the sounds birds make
facilitates "holding onto" the sound mentally until it can be ascribed to a
certain bird.

Also, has anyone else heard Leith's CD "Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody: A
Bird Song Ear Training Guide" ? http://www.caculo.com/birdsongs.htm
Particularly well-done, IMHO. (I have no commercial interest in this.)
Another good resource on the subject.

Cheers!
Tomm "sings for his succor" Lorenzin
Mooresville (Lake Norman), NC
skytomm(at)1000plus.com

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Poetry is the Music     Music is the Poetry
        of the mind            of the heart
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

visit me @ http://www.1000plus.com/BirdSong/


> -----Original Message-----
> From: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu 
> [mailto:carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu] On Behalf Of John Wright
> Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 21:57
> To: johna@blue-lizard.com; Carolinabirds
> Subject: Re: An idea for learning to bird by ear
> 
> 
> I have birded for quite a long time, and have a pretty good 
> reputation for birding by ear.  Many times I have been asked 
> for advice about learning bird songs, usually from people who 
> say they have found it difficult.  They usually want to know 
> which tapes/CDs are better than others, or something along 
> that line.  They are after a technical solution to the 
> problem, and your posting certainly suggests one of the 
> better uses of this technology.
> 
> I think that the ability to learn and recall bird songs 
> depends a lot on your genetic inheritance.  Some folks just 
> find it much easier to do than others.  But, the case can 
> certainly be made for learning such things based on 
> dedication and desire.
> 
> I also have collected a few bird song tapes and CDs, but I 
> have never used them all that much except in  preparing for 
> trips after lifers away from my home turf.  In my earlier 
> years of birding I thought the best way to learn a bird song 
> was to hear the unknown bird in the wild and go crashing into 
> the woods after it until I had the opportunity to see it.  On 
> many of those occasions, the memory of the whole experience 
> -- unknown song, the chase (including briars, wet feet, etc), 
> seeing the bird -- was enough to plant the song within my 
> brain.  I still think that is the best way to learn bird 
> songs, especially if you are young and eager and don't mind 
> loosing a little sweat and blood.  Unfortunately, many 
> birders these days take up birding in their thirties rather 
> than their teens, and have already lost the desire to go 
> crashing into the woods after an unknown chip note.
> 
> But, by whatever method you arrive at your goal, birding by 
> ear is certainly one of the very best things about birding.
> 
> John
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> John and Paula Wright
> 1953-A Quail Ridge Rd
> Greenville, NC 27858
> (252) 756-5139
> 
>