Today, my own advance copies of the Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Western North America were finally delivered to my door. What a thrill to hold it in my hands at last! I started work on this project in 2003, so this moment has been 16 years in the making.

Official publication date is April 2, which is when it will hit store shelves and ship from online retailers. If you’re in the Denver metro area, we’ll be having a launch party and book signing at the Front Range Birding Company in Boulder on Tuesday, April 2, 6:30 – 9:30 PM. I’ll be doing another signing at the Littleton location of Front Range Birding Company on Wednesday, April 10, 6:30 – 9:30 PM. At both events I’ll be giving a presentation titled “The Language of Birds” in addition to signing copies of the book, which will be on sale.

All the sound files from western North America have been added to the website that accompanies the book: petersonbirdsounds.com. There are now over 7,500 sound files on the site, all of which can be streamed online for free, with a real-time scrolling spectrogram. No purchase of the book is necessary. I believe it is the most complete and best curated collection of bird sounds currently available for North America.

I’ll be traveling a lot this year for book promotion, so come see me if one of my upcoming events is in your area! If you are interested in having me come speak to your group, drop me a line! I can speak on a variety of topics, and am developing new talks all the time.

Thank you to everybody who helped make the Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds a reality. I couldn’t have done it without all of you who shared your media, your expertise, and your enthusiasm for this project.