Book has remarkable close-up photos of 100 mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects found east of the Great Plains in North America with information about habitat, appearance, behavior and also a CD recording of commons songs, calls, or other sounds for each.

An exciting collection of field recordings that provides unparalleled soundprints of the distinctive calls of night-dwellers.

A comprehensive field guide that uses an innovative Sound Index to allow readers to quickly identify unfamiliar songs and calls of birds in western North America. Bird songs and calls are at least as important as visual field marks in identifying birds. Yet short of memorizing each bird's repertoire, it's difficult to sort through them all. Now, with the western edition of this groundbreaking book, it's possible to visually distinguish bird sounds and identify birds using a field-guide format. At the core of this guide is the spectrogram, a visual graph of sound. With a brief introduction to five key aspects--speed, repetition, pauses, pitch pattern, and tone quality--readers can translate what they hear into visual recognition, without any musical training or auditory memorization. The Sound Index groups similar songs together, narrowing the identification choices quickly to a brief list of birds that are likely to be confused because of the similarity of their songs. Readers can then turn to the species account for more information and/or listen to the accompanying audio tracks available online. Identifying birds by sound is arguably the most challenging and important skill in birding. This book makes it vastly easier to master than ever before.

"Combining anecdote, scientific theory and practical experience the Sound Approach to birding is a step-by-step guide through tone, pitch, rhythm, reading sonagrams, acoustics, and using sounds to age and sex birds." -- Back cover.

In Bird Songs, ornithologist Les Beletsky profiles 250 birds alongside colorful illustrations, and includes a digital audio player that provides the corresponding song for each of the 250 birds. Drawing from the collection of the world-renowned Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Bird Songs presents the most notable North American birds—including the rediscovered ivory-billed woodpecker—in a stunning format. Renowned ornithologist Les Beletsky provides a succinct description of each of the 250 birds profiled, with an emphasis on their distinctive songs. Lavish full-color illustrations accompany each account, while a sleek, built-in digital audio player holds 250 corresponding songs and calls. In his foreword, North American bird expert and distinguished natural historian Jon L. Dunn shares insights gained from a lifetime of passionate study. Complete with the most up-to-date and scientifically accurate information, Bird Songs is the first book to capture the enchantment of these beautiful birds in words, pictures, and song.

Learn to Identify Birds in Michigan! Make bird watching even more enjoyable. With Michigan’s best-selling bird guide, field identification is simple and informative. There’s no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don’t live in your area. This book features 118 species of Michigan birds organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don’t know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Crisp, stunning full-page photographs present the species as you’ll see them in nature, and a “compare” feature helps you to decide between look-alikes. Plus, Stan Tekiela’s naturalist notes feature fascinating tidbits and facts. This new edition includes six new species, updated photographs and range maps, expanded information, and even more of Stan’s expert insights. So grab Birds of Michigan Field Guide for your next birding adventure—to help ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.