Dear Bill, Kate, and Tweeters,

If you want to use a set of sound recordings in the field, as
opposed to simply using them to learn bird songs at home, the most
useful set of tapes for Washington, in my opinion, is NATURE SOUNDS OF
THE NORTHWEST, a 3-volume set recorded by Ken Hall and Peter Ward of
Vancouver. There are 3 cassettes: "BIRDS OF THE DRY INTERIOR", "BIRDS
OF THE ESTUARIES AND MOUNTAINS", and "BIRDS OF THE LAKES, FORESTS, AND
PARKLANDS". Each covers about 55 species, for a total coverage of 165
species-- most of the common breeding birds of Washington and southern
B.C. (and some not so common, such as White-headed Woodpecker,
Flammulated Owl, Grasshopper Sparrow, etc.). I believe they are also
available on CD.
The advantage that the Hall & Ward tapes have is that they are
grouped by habitat (e.g. "Sagebrush and Bunch Grass", "Riverine
Thickets and Valley Bottom"), so that if you are birding in sagebrush,
chances are that the next species whose song you want to play is 2 or
3 tracks away, not dozens of tracks away on a different cassette or
CD. You don't have to wade through hundreds of species that do not
occur in the Pacific Northwest. All of the birds were recorded in B.C.
and Washington, so you do not have to deal with "song dialects" (as in
Towhees, White-crowned Sparrows) that are not found in our area. And
the biggest advantage is that there are generally 8 or 10 songs of
each species, meaning that you don't need to rewind as often if you
are trying to learn a song or get a bird to respond to a playback.
NATURE SOUNDS OF THE NORTHWEST is not as widely available as some
other bird song tapes, but I believe it is carried by Flora and Fauna
Books in Seattle, and "the field-naturalist" mail-order nature
bookshop in Victoria, B.C. (phone 250-388-4174). The manufacturer is
Total Recording Co., 4530 Capilano Road, North Vancouver, B.C. V7R
4K3.
Although I also use the Peterson Field Guide tapes and the
National Geographic Field Guide tapes, for species not covered by Hall
and Ward, I use the Hall and Ward tapes constantly, either to elicit a
response from silent birds (e.g. rails, owls, Poor-wills), or to
attract a singing bird close enough for a decent look. I have long
since worn out the "Birds of the Dry Interior" tape, and had to buy a
replacement copy. I highly recommend these sound recordings to
Tweeters.
As others have pointed out (e.g. Dennis Paulson's recent posting
about Swainson's Warbler), be prudent in using bird tapes in the
field; do not use where prohibited, or where repeated exposure is
likely to cause excessive disturbance to an individual bird.

Wayne Weber
114-525 Dalgleish Drive
Kamloops, B.C. V2C 6E4
Phone: (250) 377-8865
wayne_weber at bc.sympatico.ca