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Birdsong by the Seasons is a celebration of birdsong from January through December. The stories begin with a pileated woodpecker on New Year's Day; they unfold through the year, covering limpkins and scrub-jays in February in Florida, prairie birds in May, Scarlet Tanagers in July, and ending with a chorus of singing birds in Massachusetts just before Christmas.
Readers get inside the mind of a scientist and see how answers only lead to more questions. Kroodsma provides a unique experience: with his gentle guidance, the pairing of sonograms with the audio CDs make birdsong accessible and fascinating.
"[...] When birders hear a bird’s song or call, their first concern is identifying the species that made it. There’s nothing wrong with that, it is also what we do whenever we see a bird. And just as the plumages of some birds dazzle us, there are songs that leave us speechless. But if there is anything that I learned from Birdsong by the Seasons and The Singing Life of Birds, it’s that there is so much more that you can get out of birdsong. These two books will change the way you listen to birds.
It doesn’t matter which one you read first, just pick up the one that looks most interesting to you (I can almost guarantee you’ll want to read the other afterward). Then open your ears and mind to a whole new experience with birds."
– Grant McCreary (02-09-2009), read the full review at The Birder's Library
