Aaaaw to Zzzzzd: The Words of Birds—North America, Britain, and Northern Europe
By John Bevis (MIT Press, 2010)

There are several introductory essays and notes on methodology, then a closing article on “Other Methods of Collecting Birdsong” and a conventional list of dozens of birdsongs which sound like English phrases (such as the red grouse’s “go back, go back, go back” or the hermit thrush’s “why don’tcha come to me? Here I am right near you”). The main show is a 65-page list of spelled-out birdcalls. These include:
“Kik” (common term)
“Kik-ik-ik”(merlin)
“Kikikikikik-kik-kik-kik” (moorhen)
“Kik kek gep krui tik pit kviu kve tchif tchuf” (water rail)

That this book would be published in 2010, using the print medium where most birdcall enthusiasts would opt for field recordings on their cellphones, I find just charming. There are pained paragraphs about the inefficiency of the English alphabet in capturing the tone and precision of birdcalls. But “Why bother, then?” doesn’t ever enter into the endeavor. That’s because Aaaaw to Zzzzzd: The Words of Birds (the first call of the title coming from the black skimmer, the other from the lazuli bunting) makes a strong case for birdsong as music, as art, as poetry, open to special notation and interpretation. The book’s design, which sets the text in soft italics and illustrates it with zen-calm nature photography, clinches the concept.