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They sound thrilled (I was gonna say stoked, but.). And the people who introduce the species are a kick. The recordings are very clear.
Before buying Stokes, when I tried to ID a bird with my book alone, I'd often get nowhere because several species seemed to fit.Now when I've narrowed it down with my book, I listen and find my match with these recordings. Get the region where you live and you'll be fine.The pamphlet that accompanies the CDs is well-organized and simple. I'm new to bird identification, and Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs Western Region is an indispensable companion to my bird book.
Each track is well-labeled, so even when a track has more than one bird, it's no problem finding an individual species.Generally there's more than one type of call recorded for each bird; that's helpful. to be reading bird names. Also, using Stokes and a bird book that covers habitat, it's possible to ID a bird you hear without even seeing it.
Don't purchase these CDs for birding in the field, though, unless you have an iPod or other MP3 player (4 CDs = too cumbersome).I also bought Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs Eastern Region and found that the two (Eastern and Western) are virtually identical.
I also have BirdJam Maker for organization of both Eastern and Western Stokes on my iPod. Great tool for recognizing birds both by picture and sound. Loading onto my iPod Touch was simple and without problems.
For example if you want a Western Bluebird you can't look under W, as the track is titled Eastern & Western Bluebird. This was done in order to be able to fit more than 99 species onto each CD. However the downside is that if you stick it onto your iPod you can't just search by alphabetical order. This is a good product and very good value for money. You have to browse by taxonomic order, which is a lot slower. First, the name of the bird is spoken at the start of each recording. The recordings are clear (though perhaps a little shorter than on some other bird call CDs I have purchased).For the benefit of anyone buying this to put the calls onto their iPod, there are two things that are less than ideal. Second, as noted in other reviews some tracks comprise the calls of two species.
Very handy and easy to use as a reference and for use with the BirdJam for iPod, but not as good for a starter just learning.
Product as described. Fast shipping. Would recommend. Great product. Only negative is that the cd case doesn't open and close easily.
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