The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior David Allen Sibley (Editor, Illustrator); Chris Elphick (Editor); John B. Dunning (Editor); National Audubon Society Staff

The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior

Author: David Allen Sibley (Editor, Illustrator), Chris Elphick (Editor), John B. Dunning (Editor) and National Audubon Society Staff

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Publication Date: 02 October, 2001

ISBN: 9780679451235

Pages: 608

Subjects: Science, Nature

Available as: Trade Cloth, 978-1-4000-4386-6 Trade Cloth, 978-0-679-45123-5

Description:

“Once in a great while, a natural history book changes the way people look at the world. In 1838, John ames Audubon’sBirds of Americawas one...In 1934, Roger Tory Peterson producedField Guide to the Birds...Now comesThe Sibley Guide to Birds.” Thus didThe New York Times, in 1999, greet David Allen Sibley’s monumental book, which has quickly been established nationwide as the peerless, standard bird identification guide. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavioris 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. In this new guide Sibley takes us beyond identification, to show ushow birds live and what they do. Introductory essays outline the principles of avian evolution, life cycle, body structure, flight dynamics, and more. The 80 family-by-family chapters describe the amazing range of behavior dictated by birds’ biology and environment. Among the subjects covered and illustrated are: --molts and plumages --habitats --food and foraging --vocalizations and displays --courtship and breeding --rearing of young --migration and movements --scientific groupings --introduced species --accidental species --anatomy --flight patterns --nests and eggs --conservation --global distribution Accessibly written, superbly designed and organized, and brilliantly illustrated,The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavioris an indispensable source of information on the avian life around us.

PW Publishers Weekly

Review Source: Publishers Weekly

Review Date: 2001-07-16

Not to be confused with standard field guides to birds, this far-reaching companion to last year's The Sibley Guide to Birds complements the best of those avian catalogues that birders take along on their quests for more species to add to their "life lists." Here, the editors have compiled essays from leading ornithologists on bird anatomy, ethology and behavior to round out bird-watchers' knowledge. This National Audubon Society publication details the 80 families of birds found in North America, with hundreds of Sibley's acclaimed full-color paintings, maps, charts and illustrations. Topics range from the familiar migration, feeding, mating, nesting to the esoteric, including feather structure, eye configuration, DNA classification, evolution, hybridization and much more. Readers will learn about bird respiration, metabolism, excretion, vocalizations, senses and intelligence, among other subjects. Although the information is as detailed as a textbook, the writing is jargon-free, light and accessible. Well conceived in structure and conducive to easy reference, the volume ends with a detailed glossary, professional biographies of its dozens of scholarly contributors and a convenient species checklist, based upon the American Ornithologists' Union guidelines. Whether one is a serious expeditionary birder or a casual backyard observer of avian life, this book is a must-have reference. 796 full-color paintings. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved