National Audubon Society – Bird Song Collection

The collection of bird songs and calls featured in the “Birds of North America Field Guide” on the National Audubon Society website is comprised of over 2500 recordings depicting the sound repertoires of 680 species.

This unique and comprehensive “encyclopedia of bird sounds” was created by Lang Elliott, who pulled representative recordings from his own personal collection as well as from the collections of about a dozen other bird recordists (see list below).

The encyclopedia stands out for its in-depth coverage of the “repertoires” of most species, meaning the full array of sounds used by each to communicate with other members of its kind (see the robin’s repertoire, pictured to the left).

This superb sound collection is also featured in a number of popular mobile applications for birding, including the Audubon apps, the iBird apps, and the Sibley Guide to Birds. The collection is currently available for licensing for use in other projects and products. Contact Lang Elliott for more information.

The contributing recordists are listed below, presented roughly in the order of the magnitude of their individual contributions:

Lang Elliott
Kevin Colver
Bob McGuire
Martyn Stewart
Ted Mack
Bill Evans
William H. Gunn (compliments of E. Lucy Gunn)
Gerald White
Wil Hershberger
Beth Bannister
Eugene Morton
John Greenlaw
John Neville
Jeff Wells