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| The Sibley Guide to Birds | 
| Author: David Allen Sibley
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy Used: $13.70
You Save: $21.30 (61%)
New (41) Collectible (3) from $17.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  120 reviews
Sales Rank: 26732
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 544
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.6
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 5.7 x 1.1
ISBN: 0679451226
Dewey Decimal Number: 598.097
EAN: 9780679451228
ASIN: 0679451226
Publication Date: October 3, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Softcover. Firm, slightly slanted binder with clean pages. Minor use/shelf wear. Short inscription inside front cover. Ships with USPS tracking number and confirmation e-mail. Compare our feedback and see why more and more people are choosing ufjoebooks! Accurate Grading, Detailed Descriptions, Fast Shipping, Low Prices, and Responsive Customer Service :-)
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| Customer Reviews:
 Sibley February 10, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Best desk reference I have seen. A bit too large to be a field guide, unless birding from your car, still too nice for that. If you're looking for a field guide, Peterson or Nat. Geographic would be better.
Brilliant Armchair Field Guide December 23, 2005
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I suppose that you could, if you so desired, tote this volume with you on your next birding trip. It would without a doubt help you figure out just what in the world that little brown job skulking in the brush pile might be. You could also mark it up with various notes about what you have seen, where you saw them, oddities, etc... There is plenty of room on the oversize (for a field guide at least) pages. I must say though that if you do either of the above things you had better buy two copies as the book is just plain gorgeous to look at and marring the pages seems a sin.
It is clear from first glance that this is book is a labor of love, created by a man who is at the top of his field. The paintings are beautiful the text lucid. I could heap praise on this book all day. It is that good. I do however not think that it is really a field guide. It is too big and the two regional guides (Eastern and Western) that Sibley published after this one serve that purpose far better.
Bottom-line: this is the best armchair field guide that I have seen.
 The best field guide to North America November 9, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Universally acknowledged as the best field guide to the region.
In many ways this is the ideal guide:-
- the entire continent in a single volume
- everything pertaining to one species on one page
- lots of illustrations per species
- high quality illustrations, uniform in style
- brief, succinct text
- handy maps
- expert author / illustrator
- good sturdy, but flexible binding
However, some things could be improved. First, it cannot really be taken into the field except in a bag which deters many users from actually employing it as a FIELD guide. Some will say that the large number of species justify the bulk, but this is not so: look at the Collins Bird Guide (Mullarney, et al.) which has used smart layout and cut out the blank areas to cram as much information in as possible. If portability is a problem, then the separate Western and Eastern guides are a solution, or Kaufman for those who require less detail. Secondly, Sibley is often lacking in comparative identification notes for similar species. Both quibbles can surely be corrected in the next edition.
So, which field guide to buy? If you have more than a passing interest in birds, then definitely Sibley. In that case, though, you probably want several guides including National Geographic and Peterson as (the former in particular) offer additional insight. For beginners or those who favour portability, Kaufman is an excellent option.
Don't forget this is a the best birding aid for identifying migrants in Central and South Amnerica too.
Darn Good Book October 10, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've only recently seriously started to try to indentify the birds I have been observing and photographing the last several years. So I must be considered a novice at identification, I guess. I bought this book, the National Geographic "Field Guide to the Birds of North America", and "Birds of Ohio", all at the same time. And I must say that all of them are very good, in my opinion. This particular book, "The Sibley Guide to Birds", helped me to positively indentify an American Bittern. And helped confirm several others. It is a good reference book, in my opinion. Very good. While I do find that the pics and info in the NG book are slightly better, I would still recommend this book to anyone. It is "Awesome"! You can't go wrong with it.
The Masses Can't Be Wrong, Can they? September 24, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As a novice birder, I recently went on a birding trip to ANWAR with eight other veteran birders guided by Wilderness Birding Adventures out of Eagle River AK. Every birder but me had the same Guide Book, Sibley's. That is testimony enough for why I bought my own copy of this book.
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