6 replies to this topic

[gfabbri]

Hi- I love my Sibley Field Guide (eastern), but am looking for even more illustrations, from even more angles, in alternate plumages, etc.

For those that have both the field guide and the big book, how much extra info (particularly illustrations) is included in the big book? Is it worth having both?

Thanks!

-Gian

[Janeybug]

Gian, are you aware that there are many field guides now for mobile devices? There are some really wonderful apps including the range of iBird Guide to Birds that you can read about here http://ibird.com/compare/ as well as other guides for many devices. I am not sure what you mean by "the big book". Maybe some of our users can comment.

[gfabbri]

Janeybug-

Thanks for your response! I am indeed aware of, and use, an e-guide, and look forward to checking out iBird (especially when I get a phone with more memory!). Maybe I'll swap iBird for my current app...

Either way, I still like paper guides as well, and was wondering about "The Sibley Guide to Birds" vs the smaller field guide editions.

Thanks & all the best,

-G

[cwj2323]

I do not own Sibley's Guide to Birds, just the Eastern guide , but our trip leader does. We looked through his a couple times to look at field markings. It contains all the birds of North America. . It doesn't contain more angles or plumages of the birds. I looked at Wikipedia's page for it and this quote says the same thing. "Two regional field guides using the same material as The Sibley Guide to Birds were released in 2003; one for the western half of North American and one for the eastern half." I did look at Sibley's site and there was an update in 2009, but it's the same format- no new images.

I know a lot of people do not like photos, but I do. The Crossley's ID Guide has become my favorite because of all the different angles and showing birds at various distances and lighting conditions with a background that matches the birds' habitat. Only drawback, it's too big for the field, so we use Stokes NA guide. We use Crossley's to ID photos once we're at home or just to study the birds. Those sparrow pages are getting a workout.

[Joejr14]

Best.Book.Ever.

I've briefly skimmed the Eastern guide and I seem to recall the full book having more illustrations, but maybe I'm wrong.

Btw, I love iBird but it doesn't hold a candle to Sibley's guide. For the most part I strictly use iBird for the audio recordings and real quick field ID checks.

[guy_incognito]

I really like having my iBird app on my phone, but it is not as good as Sibleys for quickly comparing between different species. iBird is great when you want to look up one specific species and look at real pictures and listen to calls.

[MarkBird]

Gian, I think it's tough to find one great book to cover all of the minutia of each bird. I would suggest a field guide from a different author (perhaps Nat Geo latest edition, which is quite popular now, or Stokes or others) as a next step to get alternate marks and views.

After that, I think you'll end up wanting specialty books for different types of birds: Peterson's warblers, Wheeler's raptors, Harrison's seabirds, etc. (And of course then you'll want several author's specialty books for each group!) After that, there's Google Images and some ID forum, but I can't remember the name...