The first question asked by most beginners is: "Which field guide should I buy?" There are several good ones on the market and they are generally divided into two groups. One group uses photographs while the other group uses drawings. Many people reason that a photograph shows the actual bird so it must be better. The problem with that rationale is that a photo really shows one individual, often in an unusual pose or at best from a single angle and often under poor lighting. On the other hand a drawing is more generic, is not hampered by lighting, and can show details that several photos may miss altogether. My favorite field guide is the "Field Guide to the Birds of North America" published by the National Geographic Society. The drawings and descriptions are excellent and each species is accompanied by a range map (if you are making a call on a species outside of its known range you need to be extremely carefull!). The only drawback is the relatively poor habitat descriptions. For that aspect the Peterson Field Guide is superior. Make no mistake about it, Peterson Field Guides are great products but their drawing are a bit smaller and maps are lacking. In the end you will probably want both and perhaps a photo based field guide as well. I regularly reference more than one source, especially for a bird I haven't identified before.

Bird songs are another story. Learning bird songs has been (and continues to be) an uphill battle for me. Just when I think I have a species down some beligerant individual throws me a curve. I have a CD set with all of the birds in the Peterson Field Guide and it is helpful but it only gives a few brief phrases for each species. The hands down best aide for learning bird songs is "Western Birding by Ear, a guide to bird-song identification." This is in the Peterson Field Guide series and is edited/narrated by Richard K. Walton & Robert W. Lawson. It covers about 90 common species and groups them according to similarities in sound. Additionally, they tell you exactly what to listen for and then let you hear the bird produce that sound. I can't praise this three cassette guide enough. I assume that there is also a guide to eastern species.

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