November 15, 2006 (Vol. 26, No. 20)
URL:
http://www.bl.uk/listentonature
Rating:
Strong Points: Good audio collection
Weak Points: Few online audios
Summary:
Here is a place to go if you want to hear the real thing. The real things here are recordings of over 150,000 animals and habitats from all over the world. This is the web, of course, so users have options of browsing the sounds by location, animal group, or habitat. That’s all fine and dandy, but the web portion of this collection only houses 400 sound recordings. If you want to hear the rest, you’ll need to go to the British Museum. Hmm. Seems like it might be easier to step outdoors. OK, that grudge aside, the section of the site entitled The Language of Birds, is a pleasant surprise, with a hierarchical, hyperlinked design that provides informative text and recordings of the birds in action. There’s a lot to like here, but unfortunately a few things to dislike as well, such as the confusing content information.
