Rating: 
Summary: A Great Guide for Novice and Veteran Alike
Review: I got interesting in birding via photography. I enjoyed our fine feathered friends as much as anyone, but in most cases I thought a bird was just a bird. When people in my camera club displayed their photographs of birds, I began realizing the great diversity in the bird world and became a more objective bird watcher. I am now getting better at identifying birds, and THE SIBLEY GUIDE TO BIRDS has been an indispensable guide. The author, David Allen Sibley is the son of a famous ornithologist Fred Sibley, and began drawing birds at a young age. His love for birds has continued into his adult years and this book is a product of that love. He is a skilled artist and the book includes numerous illustrations of various birds, the different plumages of the birds, and the birds at flight. The variety of illustrations will help a novice birder identify different species with relative ease. The book groups the birds into categories based on species and includes the subspecies of the major groupings. The book also has helpful hints on identifying birds by size, characteristics of the particular bird, color, and call. Due to the size of the book, it is not easy to carry the book while birding as it would be smaller guides. The best idea would be to take a smaller guide while birding for preliminary identification, and upon returning home compare notes with the SIBLEY GUIDE to fully appreciate the varied species of birds in North America.
Rating: 
Summary: good for any age
Review: My nephews (both 6) enjoy looking out the window at all the birds in the feeder. The clear information helps us identify birds together. Great pictures and good information. The only thing lacking is info on diet.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, Comprehensive Book
Review: I bought this book to be an on-the-shelf reference (it is definitely too heavy to be a field guide, and is not meant to be), but now I would buy it just for the beauty of the drawings. They are fantastic. I think any person at least mildly interested in nature would like it just for the beauty and details of the drawings.
Apart from that, together with the "Guide to Bird Behavior" it will also do everything you could possibly expect from a birding reference book.
Rating:
Summary: Great pictures that our son loves
Review: Not really what it was intenden for but our 3 year old likes the book, too. He just browses around and yesterday came running, proudly showing us that he had found a Flamingo, that he knows from his children's books. :-) Marc
Rating:
Summary: This is it....this blows Peterson out of the water.
Review: This is the guide. If you ever wanted to identify a juvenile or a female, this guide has pictures for all. The book covers the Western coast to the Eastern coast. There are all different plumages as well. NOTHING compares to this book. As many people know, there are 2 "faults" to this guide. There is the rather large size, and it is basically just an identification guide; no information about the species life-style. However, there is another book that covers this by Sibley. Both are extremely big books, as they have to cover such a large area, with over 800 species! I use his other book which is very well written, and I highly recommend it! The problem with size is very easy to overcome. I think that Sibley quickly realized this, and for that reason split his book into two. So, if you live in California you can buy the Western guide, and if you live in New York, you can buy the Eastern guide. This is a wonderful solution so as to not carry more than you will need. I do not use the separate guides though. Even though I own at least 4 other bird guides, the ONLY one I carry in the field with me (AT ALL TIMES) is Sibley's. The inconvenience in size/weight is worth the find of a female or juvenile bird that I could not otherwise identify. For new birders, I strongly recommend pictures and NOT PHOTOS. Photos represent ONE bird (leaving out the idea of natural variation), and not the bird species as a whole. Also, Sibley covers hybrids and rare plumages as well. He also indicates that you should be aware of leucism, albinism, and melanistic birds. Other important features covered include, song/call descriptions, easy to read maps which show summer, winter, year-round, migration routes, and accidental spots. These are the best represented maps I have EVER seen. They are colored not black and white stripes like the Audubon guide... They are rather large, and overall wonderful! The names are up-to-date. (Long-tailed Duck was once known as Oldsquaw) Name changes are indicated in the book. Sizes, weights, and wingspans are also noted, along with the size comparison for males and females. Different seasons are indicated (years for gulls), with notes on important markings for individual birds. Sibley also notes the taxonomy of the birds, and the "topography" of a bird, with diagrams of all the parts of a bird. There is an excellent map in the back of North America, marking islands and territories/states. Sibley makes birding VERY easy, and enjoyable. There is also a quick index as well as a full index. This is THE guide, you can throw the other ones away. Personally, I NEVER recommend photo guides, and I myself am not a fan of Peterson's. They just aren't complete or up-to-date. Sibley is THE man and this is THE guide.
Rating:
Summary: The best guide for North American birds
Review: I have copies of Peterson's, National Geographic, Audubon, and other birding guides but I truly believe that Sibley's is far and away the best. It is very complete and very clear, showing birds in far more plumages and variations than other guides. I have used other guides very happily over the years but I would definitely choose Sibley's if I had to have just one guide. I think it is the most helpful of all, at least for an individual with some birding experience. There is a book I prefer for beginners as it is simpler to use for a newcomer.
Rating:
Summary: The standard... a classic already
Review: Rarely has a field guide caused the stir that the arrival of David Sibley's masterwork, "The Sibley Guide to Birds", did when it hit the shelves in 2000. Birders of all kinds celebrate when a new guide becomes available, but most of us were taken aback by the comprehensive guide we found in Sibley. I've been birding for more than twenty-five years, so I've built up quite a collection of guides. Sibley has become my new favorite, incorporating the best of the rest. The layout of the book features an introductory section that discusses bird classification, range explanations, discussions of species variation,taxonomy, and songs/calls. Then the book follows the order of bird groups that were found in the original Peterson guides, explaining each group and its individuals. An average page will include:
* A genus breakdown featuring one or two species with info
* Weights, lengths, and wingspreads
* A brief description with taxonomy to note
* Flight paintings (wings up, wings down)
* A minimum of three side paintings: usually juvenile, adult female, and adult male
* Picture pointers for features of note
* A vocal description
* Maps of range with season distinctions and rare sighting pinpoints This is similar to many other field guides, but there are features of "Sibley" that are unique: * The sheer breadth of coloration, hybrid, and regional variations in the paintings is extraordinary. This greatly aids in resolving issues where the bird on hand doesn't look exactly like more simplistic guides' illustrations. In other words, if the variant isn't listed for a certain bird here, it doesn't exist! * Though essentially a paperback, it has a reinforced binding and flexible plasticized cover that give the book the durability expected of a guide while avoiding the more rigid covers that sometimes twist in a backpack and cause the spine to break. Thick pages resist bending and tearing. * Clean layout. Despite the sheer amount of info on a given page, it is easy on the eyes and cleanly-associated with a specific bird. You won't mix up what you are reading or looking at. * The size of the illustrations enables detail to come through (but see below.) * Very current. Allows for migrants and released birds not found in other guides. * Includes a pictorial overview of groups so a user can see a comparison of birds within a like group. There are so many good things to say about this guide, but there are a few detractions. The biggest (pun intended) concerns the size, which is fifty percent larger than your average guide. This makes it unwieldy when compared with some other guides on the market. As a result, it is far heavier, too. It lacks a checklist format in the index for keeping a "life list" of birds seen. Lastly, it is a bit short on behaviors that might aid in identification. I suppose these were kept for the companion Sibley guide covering bird behavior, also an excellent book. I still consider the old "Golden Guide" with illustrations by Arthur Singer to be the best true field guide (because of its combination of excellent graphics and small size), but as a more comprehensive work, nothing beats Sibley. Any serious birder must have this book. Happy birding!
Rating:
Summary: The only drawback is size
Review: I don't usually carry this in the field (unless I expect to encounter tricky birds like sandpipers or gulls) due to its size, but it is definitely the new standard for field guides. UPDATE: There are now Eastern and Western versions of this guide available, which makes it my hands-down favorite. This book gives you nearly every view of a bird. Every species has at least 4 views with perched and flying, plus juvenile, female, male, winter, fall, or whatever other plumage variation you find. There are over 40 illustrations for the Red-tailed Hawk alone! I'm hoping someone will catch on to this format and make fish, herp or mammal guides with this many beautiful illustrations. One caution: If you're just getting into birding, I would not recommend you start with this book. I still have a special place in my heart for the classic Peterson guide and it's a lot simpler to navigate at first.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: I can't believe this book as reviewed only has 4.5 stars. I own 2 shelves full of books on birds and birding and at least 5 field guides. This is a 5 star birding field guide. While I agree, it is difficult to carry, and the Nat'l Geo. field guide is a good second choice, count me as one of Sibley's fans. Makes identifying some of the more difficult birds much easier. If you are serious about birding, it's a "must have."
Rating:
Summary: Complete
Review: I am so pleased to have my Sibley's to reference. I have found it an articulate, discrete, identification resource. It provides wonderful in-flight descriptions, and immatures. Best success with other bird guides (national geographic) as cross-reference companions. I believe that it is a just complaint that it too large for easy pocket-slipping, but the lay-out is easily read with lots of white space. I suggest color-coded tabs for easier section access in the field. Appreciated that it was not dumbed-down too much for an amateur.
| 
