Ah, birds singing of spring

Isn’t it lovely when the birdies sing of spring in the morning? You should listen! Turn off the cacophony of your phone, radio, TV, etc.! Now sit back, close your eyes, and just….listen. Try to filter out noise like cars. This works best early in the morning.

Can’t take the time in the morning? Listen anytime to recordings (or watch videos) at the University of Utah’s Western Soundscape Archive. You can search for your favorites (I recommend the indigo bunting or house wren). The site provides information about the bird (or animal) including scientific name, kingdom, phylum, etc. There are non-animal sounds here, too, such as thunder at the Grand Canyon National Park or alpine stream in Albion Basin, Alta, Utah. And you can also find videos with birdsong at YouTube, such as this one of a house wren:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8wjCGQhhRI[/youtube]
If you want to learn more about birds, Andersen Library has resources, e.g.,

• Magazines like Audubon (current issue on 2nd-floor magazine racks)
• CD of recorded bird song, Birds of America in Song (2nd-floor Browsing CDs, EFF Aud Bir)
• Reference titles including The birds of North America (2nd-floor Reference Collection QL681 .B625)
• Many, many 3rd-floor Main Collection books like The Sibley guide to bird life & behavior, Living on the wind: Across the Hemisphere with migratory birds, Birder’s conservation handbook: 100 North American birds at risk
• Federal and Wisconsin government information such as “For the birds” from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which can tell you everything you need to know to feed and house birds in your backyard, and the Great Wisconsin Birding & Nature Trail maps from the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources.

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!