National Geographic Guide to Birding Great Courses

I've just got into birding this year and found National Geographic's The Guide to Birding in North America from the Great Courses to be very helpful. The course leader, James Currie covers the basics of bird identification with physical description and auditory cues. He also provides specifications for binoculars and other birding gear.

He describes each grouping of birds and how to differentiate them. There is also a section on extinct and endangered birds.

A nice complement to the course is the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 7th Edition. The sixth edition is also available at considerable discount. The full color line drawings are helpful with verbal descriptions of the bird calls.

National Geographic Guide to Birding in North America - 31 minutes