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The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior

The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior
David Allen Sibley
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 2001
QL681 .S495 2001

The popularity of bird-watching has increased tremendously over the past few decades, and it is now estimated that about 60 million North Americans watch birds at least occasionally. This increase has occurred for many reasons: Birding is a hobby that can be enjoyed by anyone, anywhere, and at any time, and it requires no specialized skills and very little equipment. Moreover, finding and identifying birds offers physical and intellectual challenges for people at any level of expertise and gives observers an entry into the world of nature.

Watching and identifying birds quickly leads to curiosity about how and why birds do the things they do. How does a tiny chickadee survive subzero temperatures? How does an albatross cross miles of ocean without flapping? Why do male wood-warblers have two distinct song types?

The answers, or proposed answers, exist in technical papers and in textbooks, but such resources are often inaccessible to birders, and the information of most interest to amateurs is frequently embedded in a wealth of technical detail. Our aim in this book is to provide an introduction to the great variety and complexity of bird life - a book written by and for birders that will help readers interpret and understand the things they see in the field.

Quoted from introduction.