The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America

by David Allen Sibley

Flexibound

Now completely revised and updated--the indispensable resource for all birders seeking an authoritative guide to the birds of the East in a portable format they will want to carry into the field. 

Compact and comprehensive, this guide features 650 bird species, plus regional populations, found east of the Rocky Mountains. Entries include stunningly accurate illustrations--more than 4,601 in total--with descriptive captions pointing out the most important field marks. Each entry has been updated to include the most current information concerning frequency, nesting, behavior, food and feeding, voice description, and key identification features. Here too are more than 601 updated maps drawn from information contributed by 110 regional experts across the continent, and showing winter, summer, year-round, migration, and rare ranges.

NEW AND IMPROVED:

   •   Updated habitat, description, behavior, and conservation text for each species account and all family pages (drawn from the second edition of The Sibley Guide to Birds and tailored for the specific region).

   •   All illustrations, including new and revised illustrations of species and regional forms, are taken from the rescanned and meticulously color-corrected second printing of the second edition of the Sibley Guide.

   •   New design reflects the layout of The Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition. All species accounts are now presented in columns, rather than stacked, allowing for better comparison and more illustrations and text for each species.

   •   Current taxonomic order and up-to-date common names.

   •   All maps revised to reflect the most current range information.

   •   More species and rarities included.

Genres: Birds, Nature, Reference, Nonfiction, Field Guides, Science, Ornithology

464 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2003

Reviews

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Go birds

[Patsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have this as a reference

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my primary field guide, the one I take with me when I'm birdwatching.

[M. Sarki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A guidebook certainly to find its lofty place within my other treasures. My good friend in Florida remarked yesterday, "Birds offer free entertainment", and I could not agree more. A little late in life for me to find a new interest in identifying birds, but owning a cabin in northern Michigan and a small house near the Indian River estuary here in Melbourne provides ample opportunities for a budding familiarity. Filled with detailed information and illustrations, this book should offer years of delight and even wonder, I suppose.

[Neil Pasricha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found a tiny yellow feather in my backyard last year and texted it to my friend Alec for identification. He replied: “Moulting season, bitch!” Unhelpful as always. But then I was like wait, what’s moulting again? Who exactly do these birds think they are shedding feathers, changing colors, sprucing themselves up and down to mate or migrate? It was infuriating trying to spot a loon last fall when they’re suddenly drab and gray. Infuriating and inconsiderate! Not breeding so no need to dress up? Well, now I don’t have to worry, because I have equipped myself with SIBLEY BIRDS EAST, an incredible thorough -- and hand painted!?!? – set of every single bird I might come across in my half of North America. Every possible shade, color, and style is covered. Can’t fool me, juveniles. I see your black beak changing to orange, cardinals. Breeding, non-breeding, I got all y’all’s number now.

[Jonathan Hiskes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learning Michigan birds with my 8-year-old son has been one of the joys of this quarantine season, and Sibley's book has advanced our learning wonderfully. It's got beautifully detailed artwork and loads of information organized smartly. His intro on beginning at birding is surprisingly good, starting with the delightful first tip: "Look at the bird." In other words, study the book at home, not in the field; if you bury your head in the book when you see a bird, you'll miss it. So much wisdom starts with simple attention.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Sibley's illustrations, and I realized my Western Field Guide was not quite as useful on the other side of the Rockies. I am looking forward to some more travels with this.

[Asher Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the definitive handy reference book. I hesitate to call it a Field Guide though. It can work as such, but won't be as useful for the quick check when the bird is in front of you because it's big and thick, the print is small and there's a lot of it. It sits halfway between more detailed internet-based guides (e.g. https://www.allaboutbirds.org) and Peterson's simplified, quick-lookup field-identifier guide. It is king of the middle ground between detail and speed. Having multiple pictures of each species - male/female, adult/immature - is a huge plus. My only criticism (and it's a minor one) is its inclusion of just about every species ever seen in the region, so it's a little bloated with rare accidentals.

[January · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice size for a big back pocket. Illustrations are extremely detailed. I'm new to birding and found it fairly easy to identify birds within groups using the summaries at the beginning of each group and the accompanying seasonal maps. I also had fun checking birds off in the checklist index in the back.

And, I ran into some real birdwatchers in the Everglades and they complimented me on this book.

So there.

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.) · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't want to pack around the big comprehensive Sibley with you on your outdoor jaunts, then having the western and eastern guides is the way to go. These are excellent field guides and hold up pretty well over the years.

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sibley is indispensable. This is my everyday field guide while birding in the Eastern U.S. My only complaint is that the binding did not hold up very well. But that can be said for most books published these days.

[Bee Ostrowsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

With around 700 species and half a continent to cover, the text gets small to make room for excellent illustrations of different morphs, flight silhouettes, etc., crammed in at 2 per page. Bring your reading glasses!

[Jessie (saxgrl1) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always my go to book for bird ID. The different seasonal plumage illustrations as especially helpful for shorebirds and seabirds.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best field guides I've tried. The introductory material is hugely helpful and the illustrations and descriptions are well done. Highly recommended for beginning birdwatchers!

[Jessica Lowery · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite field guide, and I have many.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty much the perfect bird book. David Sibley is a miracle.

[Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a field guide that actually works in the field a few things seem to me to be important, and this book satisfies. It is a sturdy book with sewn binding. The front and back covers have flaps that allow you to book mark pages. The pages themselves are thicker paper. The print easy to read.
Beyond that, I think this field guide would work best for a non-beginning birder. There are illustrations of birds, not pictures. So far, I’ve not found any to be truly accurate to what I’ve seen in the field. There birds are grouped by genus with Latin names given. Maybe one day that will be important to me. For now it’s TMI.
The book was highly recommended by Audubon Society and they know more about this than me. I side by side compared this field guide with the three or four others in my local bookstore. This one was better in every respect. It gave more detail, was better organized, and had the best feel. Now get out there and bird, baby!

[Nathan Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely essential field guide for anyone interested in really learning more about the birds where they live. If you live in the eastern parts of North America (everything east of montana/wyoming/colorado/new mexico/west texas) then this is the book for you. If you live in the west, be sure to snag a copy of the SIBLEY BIRDS WEST instead (or get both like me!) Almost every species has a unique distribution map, ecology, call description, behavioral notes, and distinguishing field marks accompanied by very accurate scientific illustrations. David Sibley has very obviously put a lot of thought into designing these field guides in a way that gives the astute observer all of the tools they'll need to confidently identify any bird located in the your neck of the woods (if you live in North America). Finally, be sure to read the introduction and follow the advice on how to approach using the field guide.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a birder (yet). I happily host birds at several feeders around my house and enjoy watching them. Here in the Southeast, I have a predictable cohort of nibblers. I intended to look at those birds only to know more about their variations. What I found, however, was an amazing treasure trove of illustrations. I ended up reading (well, taking in) this cover to cover in increasing amazement and admiration that Sibley both wrote the book AND painted/drew every single image. The effort and the outcome simply blow my mind.

[Joseph Nakonechny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exquisite field guide. The drawings are perfect, depicting the bird in different sexes and different ages, times of year, breeding or non-breeding. The small descriptions are well organized, starting off if the bird is common, locally common, rare etc., their habitat, their appearance description, and their call. Then there's a little map of North America where you can see its habitat range.

[Nicholas Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sibley is the gold standard for field guides and this one is no exception. Incredible detailed drawings, descriptions, and facts about all the birds in the Eastern half of the US. My go to reference whenever I don’t know what I saw or receive a grainy bird photo to ID.

[Roman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This thing could not be easier to use. Had it for a couple months now and it's been helpful in all sorts of situations. Definitely recommend to anyone picking up birding (or, obviously, Sibley Birds West if you're on that side of the Rockies).

[Susan Liles · Rating 5 out of 5]

My go-to bird ID book!

[Gale Turco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent field guide for identification of birds.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome reference!

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent guide!

[Sibylle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good guide, but I like the Western North america guide better -- it seems more recent.

[Joseph Dumond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love looking up birds and this makes it simple.

[Brian Jarsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite field guide.