Birdsong

Well written and fascinating, full of vital information and stories about birds and the people who study them, I highly recommend this book.

_Birdsong_ by Don Stap is an introduction to the amazing world of how and why birds sing the way they do, often centering on the author following world-renown birdsong expert University of Massachusetts professor of biology Don Kroodsma around the country and in the rain forest of Central America. Also covered are the history and science of the study of birdsong (part of a field called bioacoustics), the invention of the audiospectrograph or sonograph, and details of the first birdsong laboratory studies. Songs are "typically an elaborate series of notes, often musical to our ear" and are almost exclusively delivered by the male of a species, usually repeatedly for long periods of time. In contrast calls are simple, brief vocalizations made by both sexes to "influence behavior in particular contexts" (whether it be nestlings begging for food or geese honking in flight to coordinate flock movement). Singing birds are all members of the order Passeriformes, which accounts for roughly 5,500 of the world's 9,000 species of birds. Specifically, "songbirds" are of one of the two suborders of Passeriformes and are collectively called oscines, a group of 4,500-plus species that includes many familiar species such as jays, tanagers, orioles, thrushes, vireos, and warblers. What separates the oscines from every other bird (and indeed, just about every animal on the planet except for some cetaceans) is that most creatures are born with their vocalizations genetically encoded. Essentially, even if they were born deaf they would still vocalize as other members of their species would. Oscines though learn to sing in a manner not unlike how children learn to speak. They listen to adults and practice what they hear until they can repeat it. Research has shown that songbirds learn their songs in stages. Young bird hear their species song(s) while still in the nest and memorize it an early age even though they make no immediate attempts to vocalize themselves. Experiments in the lab have shown that songbirds are born with an "innate species song template;" they understand instinctively which sounds to memorize and ignore the songs of other bird species. Soon after a bird is fledged, its first attempts at producing sound amount to little more than "incoherent babbling," a type of vocalization called a subsong, which contains many of the proper sounds of their species song, just not in the right order and likely incomplete. Birds generally stop their subsongs by the end of the summer of the bird's first year, remaining silent until late winter when it resumes practicing once again, producing what is called a plastic song, a rough version of its species song. By spring this has been perfected into the full song. Some species continue to learn variations of their species' song, adopting elements from other birds they encounter, while mimics like mockingbirds and starlings go on learning their entire lives. Birdsongs and singing behavior can vary in one

I found this book to be quite captivating and well-written: fun and easy to read. The author does a good job of communicating his passion for the subject. He weaves a dense narrative including personal stories and anecdotes, basic facts, and discussion of scientific research. The book is a bit of a hodge-podge, and doesn't exactly have a clear beginning, direction, or conclusion, but in many respects, this is reflective of the nature of birdwatching, the study of bird song, and perhaps the nature of bird song itself. I think anyone with a serious to casual interest in birds or bird song will find this a must-read. It's a quick read, but it contains a lot of interesting and sometimes deep information about a fascinating subject

In his excellent earlier book, Parrot Without a Name, Don Stap traveled with John O'Neill and Ted Parker to Peru to find rare birds. In his new book, Birdsong, he travels with two experts of avian bioacoustics, Don Kroodsma and Greg Budney to hear rare birds. This is a book about bird song (how and why birds sing), however, I also found his portrayal of the two individual scientists fascinating. Although they come from different backgrounds and training, these two men approach bird song with equal passion. This book takes the reader on an inside tour of the hurdles and obstacles that avian scientists face. Kroosdma, Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Massachusetts, is a very thorough scientist who questions conventional thinking. For example, Kroodsma was surprised to hear the bellbird singing three different songs in different regions of Costa Rica. Going against conventional scientific thinking, he suspected that this suboscine bird learned its song (which accounted for the regional variations), which suboscines aren't supposed to do. Rather, they are believed to be born knowing their songs. Stap follows Kroosdma around recording the bellbird to gather evidence to counter the prevailing theory. But even with recordings and considerable scientific evidence, he still was not able to convince a major foundation to fund the study. Stap also follows Greg Budney, Curator of the Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, during a sound recording workshop. Don joins other workshop participants to learn how Greg records bird songs for the Lab, explaining how far Greg will go to get a good recording. While working with Ted Parker, Greg fell into a spiny palm tree and got needlelike thorns jammed into his hand. After using razor blades to remove them, he went right back to recording. On that trip Ted Parker told him, "You've got to get out there and record the birds while they are there, before the forests are cut down." Greg takes this statement seriously, and recruits people at his sound recording workshops to help in this conservation effort. Budney's enthusiasm convinces every participant that he might record something never before captured on tape. Greg's passion for birdsong and conservation are contagious, and Stap's writing is so compelling, you feel you are standing in the field with the participants struggling to get a good recording of a bird. In this book, Birdsong, Don Stap describes his travels with two of the best scientists in the field, making it sound like great science and great fun. As I closed the last page, I wondered which ornithologists he will pick to accompany for his next book. Whoever it is, you can bet it will be worth the trip.

Supplement Professor Kroodsma's title with Don Stap's survey of how birdsong clues are collected and interpreted by experts in his fascinating Birdsong: A Natural History. Birdsong focuses on the mysteries of birdsong, from how birds learn and develop regional 'dialects' to an even more fascinating set of insights on the influence of birdsong on great musicians. From how bird sounds are captured using sensitive equipment in the wild to exactly what a bird is 'saying' in a 2-3 second song, Stap provides a lively survey indeed.