CD/DVD reviews
Bird Sounds Of Madagascar, Rare Recordings Released By The British Library
4th December 2007
Bird Sounds of Madagascar
Have you ever heard the chatter of a Long-billed Tetraka?
How about the whistle of Van Dam's Vanga? Or the evening chorus of a Crested Coua?
In December, the British Library releases Bird Sounds of Madagascar, the latest addition to its popular series of wildlife compilations.
This captivating collection celebrates the unique bird life of the island of Madagascar, bringing together rare and previously unpublished recordings of 127 different species of the island's extraordinary winged inhabitants.
Wildlife enthusiasts will be enthralled by the soundscape of exotic and unusual bird sounds the drumming of a Madagascar Snipe.
The screeching alarm of the Red-capped Coua, the rattle and whistle duet of the White-throated Oxylabes, the bill-clacking of a Hook-billed Vanga.
The croaking of the Madagascar Nightjar, the 'cat' call and chorus of the Madagascar Bulbul, the barking of a White-browed Owl, the 'frog' calls of a Rufous Vanga.
The chatter of the Long-billed Tetraka and the bubbling of Pollen's Vanga all these distinctive sounds and more combine to present a compelling vision of the African island's exceptional bird fauna.
Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, famed for its wildlife, with many species of plants and animals found nowhere else in the world.
A birdwatcher's paradise, Madagascar is home to an astonishing five endemic families of birds, including the mesites and cuckoo-roller, ancient relicts of groups that have now diversified around the rest of the world.
This essential audio guide contains recordings carefully selected from the extensive wildlife collections in the British Library Sound Archive, many of them previously unpublished.
Among the rare sounds on the CD is the call of the Red-shouldered Vanga, recorded in 1997 at the moment of the first reported observation of this species in the wild.
The CD also includes recordings of endemic subspecies which have distinctive calls, such as the Common Moorhen and Namaqua Dove, as well as non-endemic species with potentially confusing calls, such as the Greater Painted-snipe and the Harlequin Quail.
The CD is accompanied by a 24 page leaflet which fully describes each recording.
The collection was compiled by Richard Ranft, Head of the British Library Sound Archive, with the help of Frank Hawkins of Conservation International, who spent 15 years studying the unique bird life of Madagascar.
Richard Ranft commented:
"This new collection of bird sounds from the island of Madagascar contains rare and fascinating recordings selected from the extensive wildlife collections of the British Library Sound Archive, many of them previously unpublished.
Other titles in the British Library's wildlife CD series have been tremendously popular and I hope that wildlife enthusiasts will find this new compilation equally intriguing."
A Bird Sounds of Madagascar podcast, featuring an interview with Frank Hawkins can be heard online via link below.
Bird Sounds of Madagascar is published on
5 December 2007
?9.95
ISBN 978 07123 0534 1
Duration 77 minutes
The CD is accompanied by a 24 page explanatory booklet fully describing each recording.
The CD is available from the British Library Shop
020 7412 7735
Bl-bookshop@bl.uk
and online at bl.uk/shop as well as other bookshops throughout the UK.
www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/whatson/downloads/index.html