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Birdscapes: A Pop-Up Celebration of Bird Songs in Stereo Sound

Get ready for the most ground breaking entry to date in the best-selling Birdsongs series (more than 400,000 copies sold!). Birdscapes delivers an immersive birding experience never before seen, or heard in any book. For the eyes: seven elaborately engineered, full-color pop-ups portraying dozens of bird species in diverse North American habitats, from the Alaskan Tundra to a Southeast swamp. For the ears: extended recordings of the birds' calls and songs in stereo from the collection of the world-renowned Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. For the serious birder: scientifically accurate illustrations of the birds and moving text about their fragile ecosystems. This beautifully crafted volume is a visual and audio delight! 3.00 inches tall x 10.75 inches long x 13.00 inches wide

Product Description
Get ready for the most groundbreaking entry to date in the bestselling Birdsongs series (more than 400,000 copies sold!). Birdscapes delivers an immersive birding experience never before seen--or heard--in any book. For the eyes: seven elaborately engineered full-color pop-ups portraying dozens of bird species in diverse North American habitats from the Alaskan Tundra to a Southeast swamp. For the ears: extended recordings of the birds' calls and songs in stereo from the collection of the world-renowned Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. For the serious birder: scientifically accurate illustrations of the birds and moving text about their fragile ecosystems. This beautifully crafted volume is a visual and audio delight!
"Pop-up books aren't just for kids anymore! This multimedia experience transports you to seven natural habitats in North America and immerses you in the birds and their songs. --Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation, National Audubon Society

"Birdscapes is a delight for the eyes and the ears--a tour of North America's bird-rich ecosystems, rendered as seven lavishly detailed, three-dimensional landscapes, and brimming with choruses of authentic bird songs and calls." --Scott Weidensaul, author of Living on the Wind and Of a Feather



An Interview with Miyoko Chu, Director of Communications at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Q: When did you first become interested in birds?

A: When I was 11, my father and I rescued some pigeons from a poultry truck in San Francisco's Chinatown. I spent a lot of time in the backyard coop, watching the pigeons as they courted and raised their young. It was amazing to realize all this drama was playing out with wild birds everywhere, too, and to have the opportunity to study it.

Q: What's your favorite bird song and why?

A: My favorite song is that of the Scott’s Oriole, featured in the desert scene of Birdscapes. Hearing that clear, bubbling melody in the desert is an unforgettable experience.

Q: What was the best thing about working on Birdscapes?

A: It was exciting to go from the ideas and bird lists for each soundscape to seeing and hearing this three-dimensional product as it emerged from the minds of the artists, editors, and sound engineers. It was incredible to see the artists' sketches transform into complex and ingenious pop-up scenes, and to experience how precise recordings for each bird were blended to evoke the soundscape.

Q: Have you visited all of the seven different bird habitats featured in Birdscapes?

A: Of the seven habitats, I'm most familiar with the desert, where I studied birds during 1995-2000, and the eastern deciduous forest, which is right outside my office window. I have visited the Great Plains and Pacific evergreen forests. I have not been to the Arctic, a southern swamp, or a seabird colony. In writing those scenes, I benefited from the insights of my colleague Gerrit Vyn, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s audio production engineer, who selected the recordings, including some that he had recorded on recent expeditions to these habitats.

Q: Which habitat in Birdscapes did you enjoy writing about the most and why?

A: Actually, there were two that I enjoyed the most--for completely opposite reasons! I loved writing about the desert because I had spent so much time there, and remembered the sights and sounds so vividly. And it was great fun to write about the seabird colony because that was something I had never experienced before—and I was completely surprised by what I learned. Whether an individual seabird's voice or thousands, the sounds are awe-inspiring, and the birds have such an interesting lifestyle as they all cram on to a bit of rock for the breeding season.

Q: Are you a daily birder or a weekend birder?

A: I'm an opportunistic birder! I'm always watching and listening for birds around my house and neighborhood. But in between work and spending time with my family, my focused birding these days happens irregularly, on the spur of the moment. My office at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology overlooks Sapsucker Woods, so I sometimes slip outside to look for birds after getting an email alert about a good migration day, or when I notice people outside my window pointing up at the trees.

Q: Do you have any suggestions for beginning birders?

A: Invest in a pair of binoculars and practice becoming comfortable with them. It will open up a whole new world, enabling you to see many more birds than you may have even realized were around you before. Spend time getting to know the different kinds of birds you see, the reasons for their behaviors, and the many kinds of sounds they use throughout the year.



Excerpts from Birdscapes

Click on each image below to see a larger view of the page.





More to Explore
Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song
Bird Songs From Around the World
The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Eastern and Central North America
The Backyard Birdsong Guide: Western North America

11th February 2009

I am the key to the lock in your house,
that keeps your toys in the basement
And if you get too far inside, you'll only see my reflection
It's always best when the light is off, I am the pick in the ice
Do not cry out or hit the alarm, we're friends till we die

And either way you turn, I'll be there, open up your skull
I'll be there, climbing up the walls

This photo was kind of a last-minute kind of thought and idea. And I got my sister to help me with the make-up (even if you cant see a lot of it here) and I told her how to shoot, what angle, did the settings blah blah and she helped me shoot. Yay thank you :) Turns out to be a little off focused when I saw it on the computer, but whatever :) And throughout the entire shoot thing, other than the fact that the fake grass was prickling me all over, Climbing Up The Walls kept ringing in my head. Haha.

EDIT: I don't like how my chin looks here. :( It looks awkwardly.. sharp.)

another edit: god i look possessed.

Snow Patrol early years..Ahh that's the best part. I love their eclectic sounds and various melodies, with surprisingly genius lyrics from the lead singer-songwriter Gary Lightbody. This Indie Pop/Rock band's greatness started in 1998 not 2003. With their popular songs from their debut album such as "Starfighter Pilot" and "Absolute Gravity". Critically this is their best album so far but successfully it was very under promoted and very unpopular. Snow Patrol did not get very much recognition for their work until Final Straw. they were the hidden gem of the Indie Rock Community in the early 00s.

Kids can rock to their own beat with Kidijamz! KidiJamz is an interactive music station that lets kids record their own songs and music and play it back on a detachable music player. These toys make music mixing a snap with 20-kid friendly tunes. To find their own beat, kids can choose from 10 different musical instrument sounds, five musical stylings, and three rhythm buttons. KidiJamz toys will have kids singing to their hearts content with the included microphone and digital voice effects. The toy's musical scratching disc and light-up keyboard round out the fun.