NPR : Understanding Birdsong -- and Its Fans

This is from the March 29, 2005, Fresh Air program, hosted by Terry Gross:

...Donald Kroodsma is a renowned specialist in the interpretation of bird songs. His new book, The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong, describes how birds communicate and why. But Kroodsma is also the subject of another book -- about those who listen to birds.

Birdsong, by Don Stap, details the work and passions of people who analyze the sounds of birds. Stap followed Kroodsma from the lab into the field to write his account of the researcher at work....

There are several related links, plus you can listen to the segment.


The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong

The Singing Life of Birds, by Donald Kroodsma, is an April 2005 hardcover release from Houghton Mifflin, 448 pages, ISBN 0618405682.


Birdsong: A Natural History

Birdsong: A Natural History, by Don Stap, is a March 2005 hardcover release from Scribner, 272 pages, ISBN 0743232747.