Customer Reviews

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Of the making of many books there is no end, and so here we have another volume from David Sibley, author of the (large) Sibley Guide, hands-down the best field guide available to North American birds. Even that book has its disadvantages, though, and Sibley (or rather, one is forced to suspect, his publishers) has sought to remedy two of them--namely, its physical weight and misleading range maps--by dividing it into two considerably more portable volumes. Unfortunately, while the book now fits into generously proportioned pockets, and while the maps are tremendously improved (residents of BC, AB, and Nunavut may disagree...), the new layout made necessary by the smaller format essentially vitiates the original guide's great advantages. Gone are the startlingly large-scale images, replaced by what are for most species literally thumbnail-sized illustrations (well, I've got biggish thumbs); for most species, the images now float in the gutters and margins next to the text. The captions to these images still provide a tremendous amount of information, in a few cases even more information or more clearly stated than in the "big" Sibley. But the cramped layout means that it is impossible to compare some similar species without flipping pages; Western and Cassin's Kingbirds, for example, are on different openings. The great strength of the original guide was the vertical orientation of the species accounts, and now that that is gone, the book barely holds its own against the more traditionally designed and meatier NatGeo. I suspect that birders sophisticated enough to use this volume efficiently will not need it; and those who need it will find it frustratingly cluttered.

I have owned several bird books, including Peterson's and The Sibley Guide to Birds (my two previous favorites), but find this book more useful because it's smaller (though still not happily totable), you don't need to refer to the back of the book for maps, and birds are confined to my half of the continent. I also find it useful that voice is included in the descriptions, and have used that several times as the tie-breaker.

While I understand that size constraints make it impossible to include everything, I do wish the illustrations weren't primarily profiles. There are many times I want to know what the bird looks like from the front (or even the back, although that's really asking a lot). Because of that I supplement this book with the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, which features drawings of birds in more natural postures - less stylized and at random angles.

I find that the two books work very well together, but I always reach for Sibley's first.

While the Big Sibley Guide mostly deserves the praise it has received, the smaller Field Guides are a disappointment. They don't have the great knack that Peterson's, for example, has for giving you the precise few things you need for quick identification in the field.
For instance, I recently visited southern California for the first time and saw cormorants with blue throat patches. My Sibley Field Guide was not particularly helpful. Upon returning home, I saw that my other guides, Peterson, National Geographic, Golden, made it clear that it was Brandt's cormorant in its breeding plumage. A fine point, perhaps, but an unforgivable omission in a book that aspires to be a standard reference. I won't take it out into the field anymore.

The larger Sibley field guide caused quite a stir but it was also a bit of a bear, in terms of size. The smaller guides that focus on east and west, are much easier to carry. Everything about them is, really, as good as it gets: the paintings, the maps, the descriptions - a top quality product.

I've been using this as my guide default guide for over a year now, after hearing from fellow birders that it is the "new standard". I agree with that assessment, but recently I've been gravitating back to carrying Peterson's guide as well. The strength of Sibley is inclusion of range maps on the same page as the bird; a real frustration in using Peterson. However, "similar species" are rarely indicated, whereas Peterson always includes this; a very handy tool when trying to ID a difficult bird. Sibley also frequently fails to note a key field marking in the illustration (and even in the text, which needs be sparse, due to the small size of the book.) If you are going to buy ONLY one field guide, buy Sibley. If you are serious about birds, you'll have several; I have four others for Western NA, but rarely carry them into the field. Guides with photos instead of illustrations can be useful as well, but do not buy one as your only guide.

I have read all the other reviews on this page and my stance has not changed. I received this book for Christmas from my parents who got my hints that I like to look at nature a little more closely than most other people. By no means am I a great bird-watcher, but I'm definitely working on improving!

While this guide to Western N.America may not be the honkin' encyclopedia other people want to sift through, this book makes for a great excursion guide, a quick way to look birds up. I am, at the moment, in possession of three other bird books, including the Audubon guide. Some have actual photographs, others have different charts. I can't say how often I actually refer to Sibley's in the end. It's just a more "natural" book to flip though.

Sibley gives you the basics, here, not extraneous info that weigh down your backpack. I like to keep track of what I see, and then do further research relaxed at home with a drink.

The first 17 pages is the usual fare of introductions to birding, color recognition, song recognition and learning, maps, and season keys. The next 7 pages includes a "Bird Topography." I don't know if this is birding lingo or creative writing, but I reference these pages often. Sibley's fantastic drawings are given black & white, sketch, and enhanced colorized treatments with breakdowns of body and wing parts for several different birds. Again, as a beginner, these are essential to me.

Thereafter are all the birds in the Western N.A. as detailed by Sibley's hands. Living by the ocean, I have access to a huge variety of birds that I never enjoyed when living in the Rockies.

I wouldn't state that the beginner should begin with only this one book. I found that I learned more about bird recognition by looking at several books. Every author has something original to say. But if there is one book to own, it would be Sibley's.

Nycticorax!

I own every book on bird identification that I have been able to find for birds of the western United States. This is by far the one I use the most. I've purchased it for several of my birding friends, keep a copy at my home site and one in my truck. One of the points that makes Sibley's guide so useful is that there are no actual photographs of birds. He has drawings that give the "more common" colorations of each species. Photographs seldom yield such a wide spectrum of coloration. I use other bird guides because they have good information, but Sibley's guide is the one most easy to use, and the most practical for really knowing the bird you are identifying.

My main problem with the original Sibley Guide to Birds has been its size. While it is an excellent and comprehensive reference, it is just too bulky to carry in the field. Sibley found the answer in coming out with separate guides for East and West. The new western guide, a wonderful addition to the Sibley family, contains updated nomenclature and range maps. Also, it contains only western birds and those eastern birds that have have shown up in the west as accidentals. It leaves out the eastern birds that have never been seen in the west before, thus saving time when using the book to ID a bird in the field. The biggest advantage is the smaller size which actually makes it feasible to carry in the field without nearly as much difficulty. Although there is a loss of detail compared to the original Sibley guide, this is a small price to pay for the portability of the smaller size. For the serious birder I would recommend getting both this book (for the field) and the originaly Sibley Guide to Birds (for a reference), but otherwise this book (or its eastern counterpart depending on where you live) is definitely the way to go for a comprehensive, portable field guide.

Sibley has done a great job of putting pictures, text and maps together in this guide. Regrettably, though, all that info. on 1/2 a page (2 species per page) makes it difficult to see/read; especially with older eyes.

In addition, I still think Peterson's paintings are the best in presenting the birds in a manner closest to how they look in the field. Sibley's paintings are a bit stark compared to the real thing. On a recent trip to Madera Canyon, I noted this when looking, in particular, at a Lazuli Bunting, and a Rufous-Winged Sparrow.

Sibley's new guide is very good, but I still keep "Roger" in the fanny pack, and Sibley back in the car as reference.

Good birding.

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America is the companion volume to The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America.

The Western volume covers the 703 bird species found west of the Rocky Mountains. As with any bird field guide, the user wants comprehensive, easily accessible, clear information that make identifications quick and indisputable. Sibley's field guides cover all the species within the range of the volume arranging the birds in vertical columns on the page with most two-page spreads showing four species. This means that there is room for large detailed, beautiful illustrations with field marks for the diagnostic features. These marks are extremely helpful for the new birder to show what to look for and how to distinguish one species from another. This arrangement is particularly helpful when confronted with the terrible and mysterious LBJs or little brown jobs. The reader can make quick comparisons between similar species.

The text covers key identification characteristics and field marks that are marked on the illustrations, whether the species is common, uncommon, rare, etc. to an area, nesting, behavior, food and feeding, and voice description. Accompanying the text is an excellent range map showing the bird's full North American distribution.

The inside of the front cover gives a quick reference guide to the parts of a bird and the meanings of the various colors on the range maps. The inside of the back cover provides a map of the USA and Canada, i.e., what counts as North America for birding purposes. The first leaf inside the back cover is a Quick Index making the groups of species within the volume easily accessible.

The volume is compact enough to fit into a hip pocket with a bit of manoeuvring. Since it covers only part of North America, it is lighter than single volume field guide covering all of North America.

The Sibley field guides have two special features. One is that if there is some interesting or noteworthy characteristic about a bird or group of birds, Sibley put in a text box. For example, there is a text box on the Drinking Methods of Pigeon and Doves explaining that they are the only North American birds capable of siphoning water. The other is if a species is more common in the east say rather than the west, then the Eastern volume will have more illustrations and adjusts the text to reflect more about the species. For example, in the Western volume, the Blue Jay has four illustrations and the text starts with "uncommon", while in the Eastern volume the Blue Jay has five illustrations and the text starts out with "common".

A single field guide is never sufficient. A birder needs to compare the information and illustrations of two or more field guides. This and its companion volume are excellent choices for one of the guides and I highly recommend them.