'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


From Publishers Weekly
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. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
This follow-up to The Sibley Guide to Birds, an LJ Best Book of 2000, focuses on biology and behavior. With nearly 800 color illustrations by David Sibley, it should be gorgeous. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Birdwatchers flocked to Sibley's extraordinary field guide and surprise best seller, The Sibley Guide to Birds. Sibley and associates now present this prodigious companion volume, providing information about birds' lives and behavior the logical next step after identification. Part 1 ("The World of Birds") discusses basic avian biology, including form, distribution, population, and conservation, in about 100 pages. Part 2 ("Bird Families of North America"), to which over 40 ornithologists contributed, uses a standard format to describe taxonomy, foraging, breeding, range, nests, eggs, longevity, conservation, and more. Enough information is presented to satisfy readers' curiosity but not overwhelm them with scientific detail. The 796 Sibley color illustrations throughout the text are outstanding (seen only in black and white in the review galley). Posture, aspect, feet, feathers, flight, nests, habitat, courtship, and much more are captured in small but elegant paintings. An understandable, accessible, and informative next step to field identification, this is a required addition for every collection. (Index not seen..- Nancy Moeckel, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Scientific American
One year after publication of the widely praised Sibley Guide to Birds (reviewed here in January) comes this companion volume, which tells how birds live and what they do. Readers will learn about feathers, feet and flight dynamics; food, foraging and courtship; breeding, migration and conservation threats. The text-to-illustration ratio is, quite logically, much larger in this new volume, and the text is a powerhouse of information compiled by Sibley and his co-editors from 48 leading birders and biologists. The 796 small, enchanting, full-color paintings are by Sibley.

Editors of Scientific American


Review
“Regardless of one's reasons for watching birds, learning about their lives can greatly enhance the pleasure of watching their behavior--as well as markedly improve one's ability to identify them in the field. The new "Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior" will help with both. Like Sibley's popular field guide, it will undoubtedly become a principal source to answer questions on avian taxonomy, habitat, behavior, and distribution. Sibley's numerous colored illustrations are alone, sufficient reason to purchase this guide, but in addition, it summarizes an impressive amount of useful information. The text is beautifully written and the chapters are consistently well organized. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the life and behavior of birds.”
--Dr. Wm. James Davis, editor of the Interpretive Birding Bulletin.


Review
"Identification books answer what; The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior answers why. Why is that dipper walking casually along the bottom of the stream? Why are those crows ganging up on that hawk? The opening chapters serve as a readable crash course in basic ornithology; the individual bird-family sections settle arguments, provide stats, and give the current conservation status. This is the book to turn the casual bird-watcher into a birder; it's suffused with David Sibley's quiet, concerned wonder."
--Ty Burr, Entertainment Weekly, November 16, 2001


Book Description
“Once in a great while, a natural history book changes the way people look at the world. In 1838, John ames Audubon’s Birds of America was one...In 1934, Roger Tory Peterson produced Field Guide to the Birds...Now comes The Sibley Guide to Birds.”

Thus did The 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 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. In this new guide Sibley takes us beyond identification, to show us how 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 Behavior is an indispensable source of information on the avian life around us.



From the Inside Flap
“Once in a great while, a natural history book changes the way people look at the world. In 1838, John ames Audubon’s Birds of America was one...In 1934, Roger Tory Peterson produced Field Guide to the Birds...Now comes The Sibley Guide to Birds.”

Thus did The 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 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. In this new guide Sibley takes us beyond identification, to show us how 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 Behavior is an indispensable source of information on the avian life around us.


From the Back Cover
"Identification books answer what; The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior answers why. Why is that dipper walking casually along the bottom of the stream? Why are those crows ganging up on that hawk? The opening chapters serve as a readable crash course in basic ornithology; the individual bird-family sections settle arguments, provide stats, and give the current conservation status. This is the book to turn the casual bird-watcher into a birder; it's suffused with David Sibley's quiet, concerned wonder."
--Ty Burr, Entertainment Weekly, November 16, 2001


About the Author
David Allen Sibley began seriously watching and drawing birds in 1969, at age seven. Author and illustrator of the nationally acclaimed National Audubon Society: The Sibley Guide to Birds, he lives in Concord, Massachusetts.

Chris Elphick, editor and contributing author, holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and Conservation Biology from the University of Nevada, Reno. He is currently a research scientist at the University of Connecticut, where he focuses on the conservation of waterbirds, especially shorebirds. He lives in Storrs, Connecticut.
John B. Dunning, Jr., editor and contributing author, earned a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Arizona. He is an Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Purdue University and lives in Lafayette, Indiana.

FROM OUR EDITORS

This must-have companion to the bestselling The Sibley Guide to Birds provides birders -- both beginner and experienced -- with a detailed yet accessible guide to the natural history of the birds of North America. Almost 800 paintings by David Sibley illustrate the expert text contributed by ornithologists and top birders, making this book the definitive source of information about birds for birders. Part I gives an overview of bird biology, including their evolution, behavior, and habitats. Part II focuses in on each of 80 bird families with a special emphasis on conservation.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

For hundreds of thousands of birders for whom The Sibley Guide to Birds -- unanimously praised when it was published, and a nationwide bestseller -- is already basic equipment, this book will be required reading. Authoritative and comprehensive, The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior provides the necessary information about the biology, life cycles, and behavior (courtship, nest-building, migration, feeding, and other activities) of the 80 bird families of North America.

For this volume, Sibley has provided more than 796 full-color paintings to illustrate the essays and family chapters written by 48 ornithologists and expert birders. Together, the pictures, text, and Sibley's lucid design and all-encompassing attention to detail make The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior as spectacular and as useful as its brilliant predecessor.

For birders and non-birders alike, in the classroom and at home, The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior will be the essential source for information on avian life.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

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.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal