book reviews

It turns out, often times I am recording birds with Merlin, and there is some question as to which bird it is. With this guide, I can compare my Merlin spectogram to the spectograms seen in the book, and then confidently identify a bird. For example, sometimes two birds make very similar sounds and Merlin is not as reliable as we would like, or sometimes I have an idea which family a bird is in (like a thrush), and Merlin doesn’t offer any suggestions (no cell service, or for whatever reason), and this book comes to the rescue. On numerous occasions I have been able to ID a bird based on a recording, and this book. It also helps me better understand what I am hearing when I can see the visual representation of the sound. Highly recommend it.

Jennifer Ackerman presents extensive, insightful information about all types of owls in a conversational, storytelling style. I listened to it on Audible (narrated by the author) and found it engaging and compelling.