De afgelopen jaren is er hard gewerkt aan een nieuw boek over de Maghreb en haar vogels, met natuurlijk de focus op vogelgeluiden, door Arnoud van den Berg en The Sound Approach. Het boek gaat over meer dan alleen verschillen in zang, roep of taxonomie, het gaat ook om het genieten van en het delen van vogels en hun klanken. Desalniettemin wordt er zeker aandacht besteed aan potentiële splits, waar geluid een belangrijk sleutelstuk is in de determinatie. Artikelen die de afgelopen jaren in Dutch Birding zijn gepubliceerd hebben een belangrijke bijdrage geleverd aan deze publicatie. Daarnaast is het boek interessant voor Dutch Birders, vanwege de spectaculaire opnames van soorten als Gestreepte Vechtkwartel, Westelijke Kraagtrap en zelfs Dunbekwulp! Door de situatie rondom Covid-19 is helaas de geplande boekpresentatie niet doorgegaan, vandaar dat er nu via deze weg aandacht op dit boek wordt gevestigd. Er is een exemplaar van het boek aangeboden aan de webredactie om te recenseren en binnenkort zal ook deze recensie op de website verschijnen. In onderstaand bericht is informatie te vinden om het boek nu met een korting te pre-orderen tot aan 1 Juli.

The new 6th Sound Approach title Morocco: sharing the birds is to launch on July 1st 2020 and is now available for pre-order.

Overview Morocco: sharing the birds, 1 juni 2020 (The Sound Approach)

This new Sound Approach title is simply bursting with sounds of birds in the Maghreb area.

• detailed bird sound explanations of all larks, wheatears, sandgrouse and nightjars
• recordings illustrated with photographs of the very birds, plus Killian Mullarney’s plates of the African Dunn’s Lark and Seebohm’s Wheatear
• stories of species quietly slipping into extinction in our lifetime, including Slender-billed Curlew, Northern Bald Ibis, Houbara Bustard and Andalusian Buttonquail
• new sound identification criteria for Maghreb species such as cisticolas, scrub warblers and chaffinches
• sounds of stunning birds as Black-crowned Tchagra, Cricket Warbler and Desert Sparrow

In the hardcover book of 314 pages, you'll find 321 sound recordings, 100 sonagrams, two colour plates by Killian Mullarney (for Seebohm’s Wheatears and Dunn’s Larks) and 161 colour photographs. All presented and remembered through personal stories and explanations about the bird sounds in the Maghreb region. The title of the book refers to The Sound Approach sharing sounds and experiences with birders visiting or resident in Morocco and neighbouring countries. But there’s also a more romantic notion to ‘sharing the birds’ since Morocco has such an important role as a temporary home for a great many migrant and wintering birds from western Europe. It means that many bird species of Morocco and Europe are interconnected. Indeed, huge numbers of European migrants spend months in Morocco, and they may be quite familiar with the sounds of local breeders of deserts, high mountains or argan, cedar and oak woods.

You can listen to the sounds of the book on the accompanying 16GB USB either in high quality files for listening with headphones, or in smaller sized files for use on mobile devices. In addition to the sounds presented in the book, the USB has 573 recordings of 141 ‘Maghreb key species’, with a text-only PDF for captions. These complete the sound overview of important species of the Maghreb (Morocca, Algeria and Tunisia). Like the book, these are available in high quality files for listening with headphones, and in smaller sized files for mobile devices. On top of that, the USB also contains ePUB3-booklets with the 573 ‘Maghreb key species’ sounds. These can be uploaded to your phone and have interactive play buttons for direct access to the sounds and captions detailing the recording and a photo. They can be read and listened to with an interactive ePUB3 reader like iBooks (Apple iOS) or Lithium (Android). All for easy learning and enjoying the sounds of the region’s most special species. Marvellous to have on your smartphone!

Showcase ePub app, 31 mei 2020 (The Sound Approach)

Morocco: sharing the birds

By Arnoud B van den Berg & The Sound Approach

Launches 1st July 2020
The book can be pre-ordered from June 1st 2020 through The Sound Approach webshop; 
by email or by phone: +44(0)1202-641004.
There is a promotional pre-order discount: standard price: £54.95 (60 euro) -> pre-order price: £49.95 (55 euro)
A review of the book will soon be published on the Dutch Birding website too.

Key Species Account - Morocco: sharing the birds, 1 juni 2020 (The Sound Approach)