David Allen Sibley. Photo courtesy of Erinn Hartman and SCBWF.
Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com.
Bird identification can be challenging. That’s why one of the first hobby related acquisitions of a birder is a good field guide to the birds–or two–or three.
My first field guide, purchased in 1971 for $3.95, was A Golden Field Guide’s “Birds of North America” by Robbins, Bruun, Zim and Singer. I still carry it to this day, although it is dog-eared and some pages are falling out such that I have to secure it with a rubber band. In it, the marsh hawk is still referred to by that name rather than todays preferred “northern harrier”, and the rufous-sided towhee is shown as such rather than the current “eastern towhee.”
But my new Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America has all the latest names and even more helpful illustrations and identification tips. Plus, the pages are not falling out.
Think of famous people associated with birds and the first that come to mind are John James Audubon and Roger Tory Peterson. Now David Allen Sibley’s works are celebrated as a new landmark in bird guides.
It’s no easy task to create a classic field guide to birds. Just read some of the various birding field guide reviews on Amazon.com and you’ll see why. Some prefer a guide with photos, other prefer painted illustrations, some prefer that the birds be presented in a specific order, some complain that the print is too small, the book is to large to carry, that the description left out this or that fact–you get the idea.
David Allen Sibley is giving a Keynote Presentation titled “The Art of Identification,” at the 13th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival 2010. Sibley will reveal how he worked to combine both scientific and artistic aspects of identification in his books and will discuss the idea that a field guide is much more than a reference book. A field guide connects people to the natural world around them and fosters an understanding of how we relate to our environment. This is an understanding and connection that is increasingly absent these days.
When: Saturday, January 30, 2010. 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.
Cost: $20 (advance registration required)
Where: Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, Brevard Community College auditorium, Titusville, FL.
FTC required disclosure: I receive compensation from the Festival for writing about the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival.
