The 8 Best Sibley Guides (2023 reviews)

We know from years of feedback from readers, customers and amazon sellers, what most people want in a guide. This product is exactly that - it's a simple product that hits all the right notes. The Sibley Guide to Birds is a beautifully well done book. The page collection of birds and their life styles speaks volumes on this majestic animal, from the tiniest hovering, backward-flying humming bird to the stealth of the great horned owl to the majesty of the American eagle. It has great photos of various stages/activity, as well as other pertinent information in an efficient, organized manner.

The Sibley provides an unparalleled encyclopedia of plumages with concise and expert tips and maps for each species. The use of drawings (like Peterson), in place of photographs, allows the author to highlight key features or a "typical" example without the individual variation and background noise that photos bring. It's cleaner and more comtemporary.

Yeah, it’s big, but has a durable flexible cover.

Why We Like This:

Easy to use good for beginners
New and hot release

Best For adults: David Allen Sibley Field Guide

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If you are currently in the market looking for a reliable guide for your daily usage, you cannot go wrong with this pick. If you want to understand a bit about birds, this is the book for you. It has the inside stories of what a bird goes through and how it faces the life of a bird. This book is educational and an aesthetic delight. It is designed to be read from front to back.

It is a treasure trove of topics including attention to the attributes, behavior, environment and lives of 96 different common species. The author spoon feeds you pearls about each species and the cross referencing is so handy to learn more about bird behaviors. This book will intrigue any birder, serious, or amateur. It is suitable for young readers.

Why We Like This:

Great book,complete understanding of local birds,great insight
A handsome and cleverly designed book
Beautiful pictures and vignettes on bird biology

Best For Birders: David Allen Sibley Great Guide

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David Allen Sibley makes beautiful and great guide with classic and smartly choosen materials. Sibley's Guide to Birds West is a very thorough collection of birds in the Western North America. It provides a lot of information for identification of birds. It is organized and not overwhelming and is a good format and ideal size for the field. It is portable even with heavy spotting scope and tripod.

Pictures are excellent and give male, female and juvenile appearances and also what the birds look like in winter described as non-mating. If you are in love with birds, love to study the way they act and the way they look, this book will let you be around them when you are stuck inside.

This book is so well illustrated and the descriptions are so well made it makes identification quite easy.

Why We Like This:

Great illustration and one of the best field guide for birders
Very easy to use in identifying birds
One of the new comers and featured product

Best Field Guide: David Allen Sibley Best Field Guide

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The david allen sibley best field guide's high-end materials makes sure that it ages well with use. It can be overwhelming to see 6 or 7 images of the same bird through it's first 3 years, male and female in different positions, but it actually makes identification much easier because you have more images to compare to the bird in the field. The Eastern Guide, with its small pocket-sized format, is ideal for Canadian field use.

This book contains drawings of birds. The pictures are very detailed & allow for more accurate identification. It is getting pretty worn plus it is best for info on birds. It is also helpful because it directly compares differences in genders and species. The book is a great guide to birding for photographers.

Why We Like This:

Expanded descriptions and updates are very well done and useful
A little crimped, but still able to flip through and perfectly legible
Great illustrations and small enough to bring on bird watching trips
Covers all stages of the birds seasonal changes

Best Field diary: Sibley Guide

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If you are searching for a satisfactory guide for your daily usage, you cannot go wrong with this pick. This easy flip book has every bird listed and checklist, but it would be nice to have pre-printed fields. It is a keep-in-your-car-or-at-home companion to your field notebook/pad. The majority of the book gives space for recording your first sighting of a bird including the date, location, and field notes. It is a great book for the avid bird watcher.

This list is a really fun way to document all of the different birds you encounter. There is enough space in each species' row to entry the page numbers for species listing and checklist, but it would be nice to have pre-printed fields. It makes for wonderful memories but also detailed reference. This is a definitive must for serious birders, the place of which is empty.

Why We Like This:

Beautiful waterproof cover, several sections to choose from for how you like to track
Easy and convenient place to store your bird sightings
Provides space for recording actual sightings, not just a checklist

Best For learning The general principles Of Bird Identification: David Allen Sibley Fantastic Book

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Next on the list, we've got yet another product that manages to win our hearts. It's the david allen sibley fantastic book and it's widely considered as one of the best convenient products you can buy. This book helps you with basics on what you need to focus on as a beginner and what characteristics you need to pay attention to when making an identification. It is for the individual who has to learn to differentiate the sparrows or the warblers or the gulls. It's actually a virtual biology lesson on birds with fine details about feathers, and molting among other topics. It gives you an understanding and takes you to another level of bird identification that you are just not going to get outside of bird-in-hand, detailed examination experience.

This is much smaller than a textbook though, certainly an appropriate size to take into the field. It is the highest power that can be used easily. It is for referencing in the field, you could use highlighters and post-its to mark useful information, or simply take notes. This is a great augment to any birder's library on the basics of bird identification in the field. It sure makes the approach to the study of birds more scientific and practical.

Why We Like This:

Allow your curiosity about birds to take you in other directions
Must have basic for bird watchers
Great help organizing the basics for a birdwatching course
Print and book quality are outstanding

Best For novice Backyard Bird watcher: David Allen Sibley actual Bird

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David Allen Sibley makes beautiful and great guide with classic and smartly choosen materials. This sturdy booklet is perfect for the novice backyard bird watcher. They often fly away too quickly to do an internet search so having this handy makes identification faster. This is an excellent brochure of the birds of the Midwest. It is an accordion fold and laminated, so its waterproof and sturdy. It also shows the season when each bird can be seen in your area.

This handy guide is right by the window, easy to grab to identify them. It is perfect for the novice backyard bird watcher. Their beautiful distinctive sound is unmistakable.

Why We Like This:

Perfect size and format to put by the window
Handy, little laminated, fold up "brochure" with great pics and descriptions
Handy, laminated guide to local birds
Good, basic bird information presented attractively

Best For More seasoned Birder: David Allen Sibley Guide

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The david allen sibley sibley guide might be a relatively new release, but it's still nothing short of impressive this year, thanks to multiple price cuts and added new features over the past few iterations. It is the book to turn the casual bird-watcher into a birder. Though not quite conversational in style, this book is composed in such a way that it can be read cover to cover or simply referred to as needed. It offers a much deeper treatment than is provided by most field guides, the sibley guide to birds included. The information is easy to read and easy to understand for the practiced field birder as well as for the amateur.

The guide is balanced in its view, too, that some species of North American birds that are extinct (or close to it) are never that populous to begin with and may have been doomed over time anyway, no matter what they did to their habitats. Because of the layout, it can be read in small chunks, too, so its hefty 587 pages are easily digestible. It is a must have to really talk to other birders.

Why We Like This:

A must have for serious birders
Included are overviews of habitat distinctions, populations, and conservation
An outstanding resource for birders of all abilities
A fasinating ornithological read with easy to digest/retain information

The 8 Best Sibley Guides (2023 reviews)

Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: David Allen Sibley Pocket Guide

Best For adults: David Allen Sibley Field Guide

Best For Birders: David Allen Sibley Great Guide

Best Field Guide: David Allen Sibley Best Field Guide

Best Field diary: Sibley Guide

Best For learning The general principles Of Bird Identification: David Allen Sibley Fantastic Book

Best For novice Backyard Bird watcher: David Allen Sibley actual Bird

Best For More seasoned Birder: David Allen Sibley Guide

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