Bird Audio CD's...are they any good? (1 Viewer)

[Steve Jones]

Does anyone out there possess any of the currently available Bird Audio CD's?..and if they do, are they of any practical use? By this I mean that I'm not interested in a CD full of Blackbirds/Thrushes/Warblers singing merrily, or a CD of 'garden bird sounds' but something that helps with those elusive call notes that separate so many similar warblers, or helps you to nail that strange Pipit call you heard earlier, or that wader that took flight just as you raised your bins (obviously I'm including scarcities). Any ideas?
Steve.

 

[Edward woodwood]

Bird sounds of Europe - comprehensive but has many 'lesser' calls too.
calls of eastern vagrants (only 15 quid) is just that - calls of those species that turn up as vagrants!
Birds of Tropical Asia is an excellent cd-rom as is Birds of Bolivia for further afield - oodles of great stuff on these along with pics etc and some relevant to UK species on the former.
can't comment on others as I haven't got much published stuff. You can get a lot on the net just by searching.....

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I find the Birdguides CDROM for all All the Birds of Europe quite useful for calls, although the recordings are usually kept pretty brief. It has a few calls for more or less every species on there and lots of other stuff too.

 

[Jasonbirder]

Simple answer....yes
Obviously not as good as the real thing but 100% better than dodgy transcriptions into words and don`t even ask me about those sonogram things....what are they all about?
I`v got a Collins 2 CD&Book Called Bird Songs and Calls which is great but concentrates on commoner species - but still helpful! Recently acquired the Collins Warbler set - magic!!
Fancy getting my hands on the Eastern Vagrant calls CD thats just been released; ideal for the next Pechora Pipit I flush (I Wish....!)

 

[Andy Bright]

I have (and often use) the 4 cd set of Bird songs and calls of Britain and Europe....to me it's comprehensive in terms of European species covered and the varying calls of the birds, with several examples from each bird (male, female, distress and other calls).

I put the lot on to minidisc and re-indexed and labeled them all so I know what is what in the field. My md player is never far from me and has assisted on many occasions.

 

[HH75]

Hi all,
While it may be of limited use in western Europe most of the time,I purchased the "Calls of Eastern Vagrants" CD this year and can't recommend it enough to the rarity-minded amongst us.I found it very helpful in relation to getting my ear in for calls that I've subsequently heard in real life(Citrine Wagtail,Tawny Pipit,Arctic Warbler and Pallas' Warbler to name but four)!
Given the recent birds in the UK,I'm currently listening to the calls of Dusky Warbler and Hume's Warbler....
Harry H

 

[Steve Jones]

Thanks everyone for their comments. Lots of good suggestions and you have definitely answered my question. Obviously the CD's help if time permits some advanced research before setting forth in search of a target species, not to mention checking out those calls when you get home...although on second thoughts,perhaps you'd be better off not knowing what you'd missed.
I'm going to the NW Bird Fair on Saturday at Martin Mere WWT and will look for the above quoted titles if there are Audio's present.
I like Andy's idea of using a mini-disc player. Will look into that.
Steve.

 

[RationalParrot]

I just bought the RTP audio sets, Birds of the East and More BotE. I'll let you know what I think of them.