The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America
The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America
- Author: David Allen Sibley
- ISBN: 9780679451211
The Sibley Guide to Birds has quickly become the new standard of excellence in bird identification guides, covering more than 810 North American birds in amazing detail. Now comes a new portable guide from David Sibley that every birder will want to carry into the field. Compact and comprehensive, this new guide features 703 bird species plus regional populations found west of the Rocky Mountains. Accounts include stunningly accurate illustrations—more than 4,600 in total—with descriptive ca
List Price: $ 19.95
Price: $ 10.06
[wprebay kw=”bird+watching” num=”18″ ebcat=”-1″] [wprebay kw=”bird+watching” num=”19″ ebcat=”-1″]
1 of 2 favorite bird books,
While I understand that size constraints make it impossible to include everything, I do wish the illustrations weren’t primarily profiles. There are many times I want to know what the bird looks like from the front (or even the back, although that’s really asking a lot). Because of that I supplement this book with the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, which features drawings of birds in more natural postures – less stylized and at random angles.
I find that the two books work very well together, but I always reach for Sibley’s first.
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|A disappointing compromise,
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|Take It From a Beginner With Zero Experience,
While this guide to Western N.America may not be the honkin’ encyclopedia other people want to sift through, this book makes for a great excursion guide, a quick way to look birds up. I am, at the moment, in possession of three other bird books, including the Audubon guide. Some have actual photographs, others have different charts. I can’t say how often I actually refer to Sibley’s in the end. It’s just a more “natural” book to flip though.
Sibley gives you the basics, here, not extraneous info that weigh down your backpack. I like to keep track of what I see, and then do further research relaxed at home with a drink.
The first 17 pages is the usual fare of introductions to birding, color recognition, song recognition and learning, maps, and season keys. The next 7 pages includes a “Bird Topography.” I don’t know if this is birding lingo or creative writing, but I reference these pages often. Sibley’s fantastic drawings are given black & white, sketch, and enhanced colorized treatments with breakdowns of body and wing parts for several different birds. Again, as a beginner, these are essential to me.
Thereafter are all the birds in the Western N.A. as detailed by Sibley’s hands. Living by the ocean, I have access to a huge variety of birds that I never enjoyed when living in the Rockies.
I wouldn’t state that the beginner should begin with only this one book. I found that I learned more about bird recognition by looking at several books. Every author has something original to say. But if there is one book to own, it would be Sibley’s.
Nycticorax!
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