The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior
by David Allen Sibley
Paperback; 588 pages; published Oct, 2001
Well, David Sibley has done it again! Members will
remember we reviewed The
Sibley Guide to Birds, a little more than
a year ago. In its first two weeks, 100,000 copies sold
out and 500,000 more followed shortly. Although not
intended to be, it has become a much used "field" guide. We still carry the National
Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America when leading a field trip or birding in unfamiliar territory.
However "Sibley" is always only as far away
as the car.
Arriving on the scene one year later is the "home
companion" to Sibley's identification guide, The
Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior. This
book is literally a home study course of avian natural
history. Beginning with 120 pages, titled "The
World of Birds". Sibley covers Flight, Form and
Function - Origins, Evolution and Classification Behavior
- Habits and Distributions - Populations and Conservation.
This initial section, as well as the first 22 pages
of his "guide" book, must be read by all birders.
What then follows in his "Life and Behavior"
book is over 500 pages covering the birds of North America's,
not bird by bird, rather, family by family - all 80
families. After reading the "must" pages,
to write this column, we reviewed three families - Grebes
(because we've seen all 7 North American species), Verdin
(because it is the only North American member of its
family - Penduline Tits - and a favorite bird of ours),
and the new world sparrows of the family Emberizidae
(because there are so darn many of them).
Each North American family section covers that families
taxonomy, food and foraging, breeding, adaptations,
movements, worldwide family features, and within the
family, some specific specie features and behavior.
As in his other work, this book is beautifully illustrated
as only Sibley can. Rather than identification drawings,
Sibley has illustrated behavior, nesting, eggs, feathers,
feet, just to mention a few of the differences and characteristics
of the various families.
After reading Sibley's natural history of these three
families, it struck me that here is a guide to steer
one as to where to go in your identification guide when
in the field. One of the most common questions we receive
is upon spotting a bird, how to know where to look in
the field guide. If one were to study the families of
the common birds of the area, we think upon observing
a bird one would know immediately what section of the
field guide to refer to - sparrows, thrushes, wrens
- whatever.
The Birder's Handbook
(Ehrlich, Dobkin and Wheye) and Lives
of North American Birds (Kenn Kaufman) are
important and necessary references - specie by specie,
with excellent natural history. This new Sibley's contributed
to by 48 experts and edited by Chris Elphick, John Dunning
and David Sibley, completes your reference library.
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