Search - Sounds of Nature :: All the Birds Songs of Britain & Europe

Amazingly full collection of vocalizations

Mark Kulstad | TX USA | 03/15/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Almost all recorded bird vocalization sets are a selection, with many species and many vocalizations left out. Relative to the standards of the genre, however, this set of 4 CDs is very full in its selection (396 species of European birds; many vocalizations per species; 5 hrs. total playing time). Here is a more concrete and personal test of comprehensiveness: the Camargue in southern France is a hot spot for special birds, not just the more common species of western Europe. Focusing on the special birds I have not yet observed, I found that not a one of these ca. 40 species is omitted in this Wildsounds collection. That was considerably better than I expected.



After listening to the calls and songs on the CDs, and looking through the booklets contained in the 4 CD cases, I can not only confirm the high quality of the recordings, but can also confirm another way in which the collection stands out -- it has a much greater sampling of different kinds of calls and songs from a single species than is customary. The standard approach in such sets is to give only the most typical song, perhaps with the most typical call added. This set offers much more than that. And it clearly describes which are the songs, which are the typical calls, which are unusual vocalizations, etc. I've rarely experienced this kind of comprehensiveness in such a collection.



A special feature that some will love and some will hate should be highlighted. The bird species name is not "announced" on the CDs, but only on the accompanying printed material. The vocalizations of each species are, to be sure, on their own track on the CDs, making it relatively easy to locate exactly the species' vocalization one wants to hear, with no need for an announcement. But one cannot, for example, learn to identify the vocalizations by playing the CD in a car while driving - not, at least, without severely endangering others on the road by constantly checking the written materials to confirm the species in question. More generally, to learn to identify the vocalizations by listening to this set, one must simultaneously use one's hands as well as one's ears, which will be too much trouble for some.



Who then will love this feature? Two groups, at least. First, those serious about really testing their advancing knowledge of the calls will want to dispense with the crutch of hearing the names of the species immediately after (or worse, immediately before) listening to the vocalizations. That's a bit like learning to ride a bicycle having only a bicycle with training wheels permanently attached: after a certain point, the training wheels do more harm than good. Second, those who simply love nature sounds, without being overly concerned about exact identifications, will find the absence of human voices in their nature recordings almost a necessity. Wildsounds emphasizes such nature recordings in its broader offering, so it is not surprising that this set too lacks the interruption of human voices."