Mason, sorry for the double post, this was for the list as well as yourself...

Mine too... Although I don't consider myself an expert I gave a
little talk about this at the Lab of O, so I HAD to think about it.
As a young 13-15 year old birder I learned most of my birds alone.
And I didn't really have tapes at first. This meant that ANY time I
wanted to know what bird was singing I had to track it down. I can't
tell you how many times I found American Goldfinches singing in the
trees, but i KNOW I know them now... Tapes did help a bit once I had
the basics. On at least two memorable occasions I realized I was
hearing birds I recognized from the tapes but that I didn't really
know from the field. Brown Thrasher (I started east) popped out one
day, and better yet I got our lone Golden-winged Warbler on my very
first big day by ear. But it was really the grind and process of
FINDING and SEEING the vocalizing individuals that tuned my ear.

So, here's my run-down.

The best way to get good is to go out and track down every bird you
hear. This is a totally different experience than car-birding or
going on a tour. It's work. Go to a local park and have fun
relearning song sparrow eight different ways (they have AT LEAST that
many vocalizations...). Listen to tapes, but don't sweat it. Make
up little renditions for yourself, because they may not match at all
what you read in Peterson or Sibley. (Using guides is mostly helpful
post-hoc, that is, after you've already heard the bird. I find them
useless before.) Be ready to be frustrated when you find the song
sparrow or goldfinch the 11th time. But realize that it's part of a
different learning process than seeing birds.

Going out with people can help a lot, if you're paying attention, but
I can't help but think that some people who believe they're learning
the calls are saying "oh, yeah! I know that one!" because YES once
it's pointed out they remember correctly, but they don't KNOW it for
themselves well enough to get it in the field. It's good to be with
someone you can ask again and again, but I strongly suggest that
before you ask, you take your best educated guess, no matter where
you are in yoru education. Verbalize it! Say it to your expert, and
they'll tell you why you're almost right but not quite. That's more
info and a better learning process than just having them tell you...

The iBird idea is cool, and I can imagine that the positive feedback
could be very helpful in the field. But beware the variation that is
present in the field that the recordists can't quite catch.

The best way to learn ALL birds is to immerse yourself in the common ones.

/steps down from soapbox

Jesse

>I can't resist adding my two cents.
>
>Tapes/CD's are somewhat helpful but my experience is that you can't rely on
>them alone. I've spent many hours using BirdPod in the car and sometimes in
>the field with some success. During a trip to Maine early this summer I had
>some success identifying Warbler calls using BirdPod.
>
>But the best way to learn how to bird by ear is to spend time with
>experienced birders who are willing to help. In the last 18 months of so
>I've greatly improved my birding by ear by joining the Marymoor Wednesday
>bird walk whenever I can. Michael Hobbs, Brian Bell and Matt Bartels are
>always willing to help folks connect the sound with the species when
>asked...even if asked repeatedly. :) At least for me, nothing works better
>than repetiton. All you need are patient co-birders.
>
>Mason Flint
>Snoqualmie, WA
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
>[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Regan
>Wensnahan
>Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 5:11 PM
>To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>Subject: [Tweeters] Which songs to learn first?
>
>Hi All,
>
>As a fairly new bird watcher, I have decided that it is time for me to take
>time to learn some bird songs. The problem of course is which ones?
>
>I have the Stokes CDs and took the time to make a CD of the subset of
>"common" Seattle birds. This trimmed the list from ~500 to ~90. This list is
>still too long to seem like a good starting point. I'd like to trim things
>to perhaps 20-30 that I would try to memorize and perhaps another 30 that I
>would listen to occasionally for familiarity. It seems like the place to
>start is with common birds that sing regularly, i.e. those birds I am likely
>to hear. It also seems to make sense to focus on birds that I amlikely to
>hear but not see or be able to identify easily otherwise.
>
>So, I was hoping that you folks could give me some recommendations.
>Where do I start?
>
>Thanks, Mark
>
>Mark Wensnahan
>Ballard/Seattle
>reganw at rockislandDOTcom
>
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--
Jesse Ellis, Ph. D. candidate
Neurobiology and Behavior
jme29 at cornell.edu
111 Mudd Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, 14853

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