Bird sounds are a conspicuous part of the natural world that delight the ear, mark the changing seasons, pique our curiosity, and provide the background music to daily life. Besides bringing us simple pleasure, the study of bird sounds can open us to an entirely new world as we learn new languages that allow us to identify species and eavesdrop on their communications sight unseen. Anyone who has spent any time in the fild knows how important it is to master the basic songs and calls of birds given how many individuals are heard only rather than seen. Knowledge of bird songs is also vital to conservation work, as detecting population trends of species, from the rarest to the most common, oftn depends on surveys that require aural identifiation (e.g., Breeding Bird Survey). When I began birding in the 1970s, there were few resources for learning bird songs other than some basic recordings available on LP record albums (including vocal recreations of bird calls, e.g., Big Jake’s Calls the Waders; www.discogs.com/Big-Jake-Calls-Th-Waders-/release/7763703), verbal descriptions of songs and calls in fild guides and other books, and fild outings with more accomplished companions. Today, aftr the dawn and maturation of the digital age, there is a dizzying array sources, including online access to worldclass sound-recording collections, such as Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library (www.macaulaylibrary.org) or Xeno-canto (www.xeno-canto.org/), recent fild guides devoted entirely to bird song (e.g., Nathan Pieplow’s 2019 Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Western North America, Houghton Miffl Harcourt), and various smartphone apps. Yet, many novices may fid the detail and complexity contained in such sources daunting and may seek guidance from other introductory or regionally focused materials.