The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior | 
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| Author: David Allen Sibley
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $45.00
Buy New: $19.95
You Save: $25.05 (56%)
New (28) Collectible (1) from $19.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 15713
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 608
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.2
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 6.2 x 1.8
MPN: 0-679-45123-4
ISBN: 0679451234
Dewey Decimal Number: 598.097
EAN: 9780679451235
ASIN: 0679451234
Publication Date: October 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior is the new landmark book from David Allen Sibley. Designed to enhance the birding experience and to enrich the popular study of North American birds, the book combines more than 795 of his full-color illustrations with authoritative text by 48 expert birders and biologists
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
From the creator of the seminal field guide, The Sibley Guide to Birds, comes another indispensable book for bird watchers. This veritable bible to the world of birds is the collaborative effort of 48 expert birders and biologists, who combine scientific accuracy and detail with an easily readable and well-organized format. How does a tiny chickadee survive subzero temperatures? How do flocks of birds synchronize their flights? How can an albatross cross miles of ocean without flapping its wings? Which bird brains are actually intelligent? It's all here in essays giving an overview of avian evolution, biology, and the aerodynamics of flight and in chapters devoted to the 80 bird families of North America, each one detailing taxonomy, habitats, feeding, breeding, vocalizations, migrations, and more. Concerned about declining populations, Sibley also discusses the conservation status of each species and the factors that threaten them. This fascinating source of information is destined to be a well-thumbed companion. -- Lesley Reed
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
A Chilean opinion April 21, 2008
This book is very usefull even for forign bird watcher as my self, it contents almost every family that exist in south america with mthe exception of pinguins.
Very nice writen.
 Sibley bird behavior April 10, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Have not found this book to be interesting. It jumps around and covers many birds at once. You have to spend time looking to find a bird and then it is not comprehensive enough. Would not buy this book again. Disappointing as I do use his bird guide.
Another Gem July 28, 2007
Like all the Sibley books, this is comprehensive and well-written. A necessary and welcomed addition to any birder's library.
 An informative book. January 11, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a useful book about bird behavior written by a true expert. It's a bit like a textbook the way it approaches broad topics and discusses various aspects.
Like any textbook, I suppose, if you go into this book with a specific question and hope for a specific answer, you may not find it. However, if you were trying to write a school report or something you would certainly find lots of useful tidbits of information in the general area of your topic.
I'd say that rather than thinking of this as a reference book, you should think of it as background reading, to be taken in small doses, for the above-and-beyond birding enthusiast.
From the perspective of a non-birder... August 24, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I'm not a birder, though it seems like an interesting hobby. But I just look at the birds at the feeders and birdbath in the back yard and think, "I wonder what that one is?" So, I bought "The Sibley Guide to Birds" (which is outstanding) on the recommendation of a birder friend, and that led me to this book.
On the one hand, it's a long, dense, scientific work. The years of effort and study that went into it is astounding.
On the other hand, it's an extremely entertaining set of answers to all of those "Why do they do that?" questions that come up when you're watching birds. For example, why do bird knees seem to bend backward? Well, they don't; the knee is close to the bird's body, and what seems to be a backward knee is actually the bird's ankle. The birds are in effect walking around on their tip toes.
If hundreds of pages of information like that, coupled with beautiful illustrations and great maps, all wrapped in an easy-to-use organizational scheme sounds interesting and useful, then get this book.
For a non-birder like me, it's probably more information than I really need, but I found it fascinating.
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