Books On Birdsong

While Donald Kroodsma, a specialist in the interpretation of bird songs, has released a new book, The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong, he 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.

Listen to the NPR story

David Rothenberg, a jazz musician, explores birdsong through science, poetry and music in Why Birds Sing: A Journey Into the Mystery of Bird Song (Basic Books). He examines not only why birds sing, but what their songs mean to other birds and to humans, and how birdsongs can be instinctive or learned. He points out that although males sing to defend territory or attract mates, they also sing when no females or male competitors are present - perhaps, he suggests, because they simply enjoy singing. (AP Story)

Why is everyone aflutter over Birdsong? Birdsong may reveal clues to brain function. Listen for more on NPR.

"The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill"

IT WAS an article about parrots that drew filmmaker Judy Irving to San Francisco, where the author, Mark Bittner, resided.

Bittner, a bearded, ponytailed, formerly homeless ex-musician, was taking care of a flock of wild conures (the correct term for parrots) on the Greenwich Steps of tony Telegraph Hill. They weren't his birds, per se, but he fed them regularly. And they kept coming back. People called him the Saint Francis of Telegraph Hill.

The filming of "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill", took 4 1/2 years, Irving says, because she was trying to capture the perfect footage of Bittner's birds

The movie, showing at Landmark's E Street Cinema (11th and E streets NW; 202-452-7672) and the Avalon Theatre (5612 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202-966-6000), captures that bird's first flight, as well as other unfolding events. And it outlines the personal life journey that brought Bittner into this almost mythical relationship with his various species of conures.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23705-2005Mar10.html

Washington Post Review

It is also a book:

Sibley Signing

David Allen Sibley, author and artist of the newest series of birding field guides, is the featured artist at the 16th Annual Patuxent Wildlife Art Show and Sale scheduled April 1 – 3 at the Patuxent Research Refuge’s National Wildlife Visitor Center in Laurel, MD.

Sibley will be available for book signings at both the Friday evening reception and during the first day of the Art Show, Saturday, April 2nd.

For more information, visit www.friendspwrc.org or call (301) 497-5789. The National Wildlife Visitor Center is located off Powder Mill Rd, between the Baltimore/Washington Parkway and MD Rt. 197.