Jon Young's ear- and eye-opening research begins with a simple premise: if you sit quietly, for as long as it takes nearby birds to stop worrying about you, you can begin to hear what they say to one another and understand what it means.

The techniques in What the Robin Knows will help readers to expand their zone of awareness while shrinking their zone of disturbance. Birds are the sentries for other animals: the animals attend to the birds' warnings their language and behaviors, such as the hook, the bird plow, and the ditch so they can hide and protect themselves. Yet if we learn to interpret these warnings, we can observe animals behaving as they do when they're not feeling threatened by human presence.

Understanding deep bird language is an ancient practice; this groundbreaking book combines the knowledge of Native cultures with current scientific research to guide readers to an enhanced understanding of the natural world and a deeper connection with both animals and themselves.

Professional quality field recordings of many common birds in a variety of situations will help the reader to unlock the secrets of the natural world. The audio, available online, includes many of the baseline voices of backyard birds, as well as life-or-death recordings of birds in the presence of imminent danger. It also includes the voices of non-avian species whose calls can be helpful in detecting sneaky predators (such as chipmunks and squirrels), as well as tricky mimics, who may throw the budding bird-language student a curveball now and then.