Spring in Colorado has brought with it the clatter of
bird calls and a few new tools for finding the feathered beasties.
In January, the Colorado Bird Atlas Partnership released the
Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas, a 636-page book packed with profiles
and pictures of birds, and maps showing where in the state they can
be found. The book, 10 years in the making, pulls together
information collected by 30 ornithologists. It covers birds ranging
from the American pipit, a songbird that breeds on mountaintop
tundra, to the canyon wren, which nests in desert cliffs. The book
also includes color photographs of bird habitat around the state,
and lists of common birds you’ll find there. A copy is $34.95, plus
$5 shipping, from the Colorado Wildlife Heritage Foundation,
Colorado Bird Atlas, P.O. Box 211512, Denver, CO
80221-0394.
If you are a high-tech birder, you
can watch video clips of birds and listen to their songs on a new
set of CD-ROMs called Better Birdwatching in Colorado. Available
for Mac and PC computers, the CDs include color photos of 386
different birds. The maps and descriptions are less detailed than
those in the atlas, but you can watch an osprey dive into a lake
after a fish, and listen to the cackle of a lesser prairie chicken.
Fort Collins software designer Joseph LaFleur says he designed the
CDs for beginning birders and kids. Included are birding quizzes
that test how stout a birder you are. Identify a bird by its song,
or its site, and a parrot rings a victory bell. “There are so many
computer games where you just go around blowing things up,” he
says. “I wanted to make something you could actually learn from.”
The 2-CD set is $59.95 on the Web at
http://members.aol.com/bircdroms; call 888/414-2837, or write
Better Birdwatching CD-ROMs, 6161’2 W. Olive St., Fort Collins, CO
80521.
*Greg
Hanscom
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline New tools for bird buffs.
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