A Guide to Night Sounds

Rating:
Summary: Soothing and informative
Review: I love Lang Elliott's voice. It is very soothing and doesn't detract from the bird, reptile and insect sounds. I was able to identify a Horned Owl from the CD, so it is informative, too. The sounds are grouped on different tracks so it's easy to find the category you want, much better than a cassette tape.

Rating:
Summary: Soothing and informative
Review: I love Lang Elliott's voice. It is very soothing and doesn't detract from the bird, reptile and insect sounds. I was able to identify a Horned Owl from the CD, so it is informative, too. The sounds are grouped on different tracks so it's easy to find the category you want, much better than a cassette tape.

Rating:
Summary: Unique and wonderful nature guide by Lang Elliott
Review: This is a truly special release from Lang Elliott, the author of numerous nature CDs and books (including the splendid "Music of the Birds" and "Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs.") On this compact disc (or cassette) and its accompanying booklet, he introduces the sounds of common North American night animals. To my knowledge, no one else has compiled a field guide to the sounds of night animals with sounds from many groups of creatures all in one place (i.e., birds, mammals, amphibians, etc.)

The recording is a constant delight and will probably make you aware of the source of many sounds you have heard but not identified before. Don't be surprised to say, "So THAT'S what that is" many times while listening to the tape or CD. Also be prepared for surprises. Think you hear cats fighting outside your window at night? They may be cats, but they also could be raccoons, which often sound remarkably like angry felines. That strange, ghostly hiss or scream you may have heard at night in the country? An angry cat perhaps, but it might be a barn owl. And there are many other special sounds identified here: the rhythmic calls of nightjars like the whippoorwill, the trills and croaks of amphibians, the surprisingly snort of the white-tailed deer.

If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you must have this guide. Take it on a camping trip with you, if you have a portable CD player or cassette player. Those night woods will not seem so forbidding anymore once you know that most of the time, the strange and fascinating sounds you hear are made by completely harmless creatures.

Rating:
Summary: Unique and wonderful nature guide by Lang Elliott
Review: This is a truly special release from Lang Elliott, the author of numerous nature CDs and books (including the splendid "Music of the Birds" and "Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs.") On this compact disc (or cassette) and its accompanying booklet, he introduces the sounds of common North American night animals. To my knowledge, no one else has compiled a field guide to the sounds of night animals with sounds from many groups of creatures all in one place (i.e., birds, mammals, amphibians, etc.)

The recording is a constant delight and will probably make you aware of the source of many sounds you have heard but not identified before. Don't be surprised to say, "So THAT'S what that is" many times while listening to the tape or CD. Also be prepared for surprises. Think you hear cats fighting outside your window at night? They may be cats, but they also could be raccoons, which often sound remarkably like angry felines. That strange, ghostly hiss or scream you may have heard at night in the country? An angry cat perhaps, but it might be a barn owl. And there are many other special sounds identified here: the rhythmic calls of nightjars like the whippoorwill, the trills and croaks of amphibians, the surprisingly snort of the white-tailed deer.

If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you must have this guide. Take it on a camping trip with you, if you have a portable CD player or cassette player. Those night woods will not seem so forbidding anymore once you know that most of the time, the strange and fascinating sounds you hear are made by completely harmless creatures.