This Birding Life! New Episode

Lang Elliott recording bird songs at Indigo Hill in March of 2007. Image by Jeff Gordon.

The latest episode of This Birding Life is available for downloading at Podcast Central on the Bird Watcher's Digest website. This episode's "victim" is Lang Elliott, the Mighty Maven of Bird Sounds.

Lang has been recording nature sounds for the past two decades. In our conversation he describes the very first bird sound he ever recorded, and some other interesting adventures he's had along the way.

We also talk about his latest book, The Songs of Insects, co-authored with Wil Hershberger. This book profiles 75 of the most common sound-making insect species with gorgeous photos, full descriptions, and the species' song or sound included on the CD that comes with the book. This book is going to open a lots of ears (and eyes) to the world of singing insects--a world that has gone largely unnoticed by most bird watchers.

Lang and Wil have recently created a really cool insect-sounds website to support the book. Check it out.

The This Birding Life podcast is available in both MP3 (audio only) and M4A (images and sound) formats and can be downloaded from the BWD website or in the iTunes Store.

Lang Elliott (L) and Ted Mack prior to a 1988 sound-recording field trip. Image courtesy Lang Elliott.