By Mark Constantine and The Sound Approach
Publication date: 23 April 2026
Hardback: £25.00 / eBook: £14.99
Publisher: HarperCollins - Harper NonFiction
The Sound Approach to Birding second edition is available from Thursday 23rd April 2026 online, in bookshops nationwide and in selected LUSH shops.
Discover the incredible world of birds through the magic of their song. The Sound Approach to Birding takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the latest research, combining novel scientific theories, entertaining anecdotes and practical field experience from Mark Constantine OBE and the Sound Approach team, world leaders in bird identification, evolutionary theory and species concepts. Learn how:
- Some birds have fashions in their songs.
- It’s not just male birds that sing.
- Woodpecker drums can be identified to species.
- Female choosiness can drive evolutions in songs.
- Mimicry is more prolific than you might imagine.
- Birds start learning their songs when they are in the egg.
- Singing their songs correctly can make birds happy.
- It might not be Tawny Owls that originally twit-twoo-ed…
Delve into new areas of research, including what bird songs reveal about migration, how nocturnal migration is opening new frontiers of understanding, cultural and biological evolution and about songbird ‘oscine’ origins.
What’s new?
This second edition, published 20 years after the original, captures the latest advances in scientific understanding of bird sounds, accompanied by the highest quality recordings, original artwork and stunning photographs. Every aspect of the book has been re-examined, supported by the most up to date research from industry experts.
- Over 300 original bird sound recordings, available on dedicated app (available for iPhone and Android) and website, with functions to favourite, save, download in app.
- Original artwork from acclaimed bird artists Killian Mullarney and Katrina van Grouw.
- Exquisite photography from Europe’s top bird photographers.
- Detailed sonograms highlighting key identification features.
- Sound analysis and original research from the award-winning Sound Approach team.
Dive into science, history and personal adventure, whilst learning how to maximise the use of sound to enhance your field skills and improve your standards of identification, whatever your level of experience.
Praise for The Sound Approach to Birding (first edition, 2006)
- British Birds’ Book of the Year 2008
- “Revolutionising the use of sound in identifying birds” (New Scientist, 2007)
- “Genuinely groundbreaking” (Bird Watching magazine, 2007)
About the author
Mark Constantine has been a keen birder since the 1970s. During the 1980s he developed a passionate interest in bird sounds and in 2000, he invited Arnoud van den Berg and Magnus Robb to form The Sound Approach. He co-founded Lush with five friends in 1995 and remains CEO and the driving force behind the business. In the 2010 Queen’s New Years Honours list, Mark and his wife Mo Constantine both received OBEs for services to the beauty industry.
About The Sound Approach
Founded in 2000 by Mark Constantine, Magnus Robb and Arnoud B van den Berg, The Sound Approach aims to popularise birdsong and the understanding of birdsong. We own one of the largest privately-owned archives of bird sound recordings in the world, nearing 100,000 recordings of more than 1,500 species, with a particular focus on the Western Palaearctic. Our books, complete with accompanying bird sounds, focus on different groups of birds or locations. In 2008, Petrels Night and Day was awarded Birdwatch Book of the Year. We are renowned for the diversity, quality and scope of our bird sound archive, and have been directly involved in the discovery of new species to science. In 2015, The Sound Approach was awarded the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Marsh Award for innovative Ornithology.
