A mid-August walk finds the woods almost silent. A raven talks, a jay complains, an eagle titters, a squirrel chatters. If you are lucky, a little group of chickadees will come by and visit. But bird ...

There are 1,000 native birds in North America, flitting from tree to tree, swooping down to pull up a worm and creating the sing-song soundtrack to our lives. But, often, those little winged beauties ...

poets and musicians, from Chaucer to Wordsworth, from Handel to Respighi. Birdsong can be a natural phenomenon of intense beauty. But our enjoyment is incidental to the main purpose, which is one bird ...