Help in the hand with bird book, CD

Identifying birds is sometimes difficult, especially if you can only hear them, but New Zealand Bird Calls, (New Holland), a slim book with a CD, will make it easier.

It is written by Lynette Moon, illustrated with her late husband Geoff Moon's celebrated photographs, and accompanied by John Kendrick's recordings prepared by his daughter Karen Baird. It gives brief descriptions of native and introduced birds and their feeding and nesting habits.

A bonus is Kendrick's memoir describing his long friendship with Geoff Moon - and if you think you may have heard the recordings before, you may well have as they were the bird calls broadcast on National Radio's Morning Report.

• Charmian Smith is a Dunedin writer.