BIRD BOOK'S ALSO MUSIC TO YOUR EARS.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Countless books are available to help sharpen your eye when it comes to identifying birds. Now there's one that will help you use your ears as well as your eyes to locate and identify various varieties of feathered friends.

The Mountaineers Books of Seattle has published "Birdsongs of the Pacific Northwest," an illustrated field guide that includes a compact disc containing 165 birdsongs.

The CD's 99 tracks feature field recordings of the songs and calls of the most common birds found in the Pacific Northwest. The recordings were made by Martyn Stewart, mostly in Washington, although he did have to take his field microphones to British Columbia, Alaska and California to record some species.

CD tracks correspond to numbered species descriptions in the accompanying guidebook, written by Stephen Whitney and illustrated by Whitney and Elizabeth Hart. The set is packaged in a hardcover case with removable softbound guidebook and CD, which is secured in a resealable plastic pouch attached to the inside front cover.

"Birdsongs of the Pacific Northwest," (ISBN No. 089886-821-1) is priced at $21.95. It is available from bookstores and from www.mountaineersbooks.org. A link to selected audio tracks from the book should be available soon, according to Mountaineers Books publicist Alison Koop.