The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior"Once in a great while, a natural history book changes the way people look at the world. In 1838, John ames Audubon's "Birds of America" was one...In 1934, Roger Tory Peterson produced "Field Guide to the Birds."..Now comes "The Sibley Guide to Birds."" Thus did "The New York Times," in 1999, greet David Allen Sibley's monumental book, which has quickly been established nationwide as the peerless, standard bird identification guide. "The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior" is the new landmark book from David Allen Sibley. Designed to enhance the birding experience and to enrich the popular study of North American birds, the book combines more than 795 of his full-color illustrations with authoritative text by 48 expert birders and biologists. In this new guide Sibley takes us beyond identification, to show us "how birds live and what they do." Introductory essays outline the principles of avian evolution, life cycle, body structure, flight dynamics, and more. The 80 family-by-family chapters describe the amazing range of behavior dictated by birds' biology and environment. Among the subjects covered and illustrated are: --molts and plumages --habitats --food and foraging --vocalizations and displays --courtship and breeding --rearing of young --migration and movements --scientific groupings --introduced species --accidental species --anatomy --flight patterns --nests and eggs --conservation --global distribution Accessibly written, superbly designed and organized, and brilliantly illustrated, "The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior" is an indispensable source of information on the avian life around us. |
From inside the book
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Page 15
... birds are highly visible . For all these reasons , they are among our most studied groups of organisms . Birds form a highly distinct class of vertebrates , the class Aves . All birds have features that distinguish them from other ...
... birds are highly visible . For all these reasons , they are among our most studied groups of organisms . Birds form a highly distinct class of vertebrates , the class Aves . All birds have features that distinguish them from other ...
Page 33
... birds is that they do not need to drink copious amounts of water simply to flush nitrogen from their bodies . The whitish uric acid is mixed with undigested , darker feces to produce the familiar white - and- dark pattern of bird ...
... birds is that they do not need to drink copious amounts of water simply to flush nitrogen from their bodies . The whitish uric acid is mixed with undigested , darker feces to produce the familiar white - and- dark pattern of bird ...
Page 40
... birds must have originated separately from a predinosaur reptilian ancestor on the basis that bird - like dinosaurs lacked a furcula ( the fused collarbones , or " wishbone " ) . In 1973 , Yale paleontologist John Os- trom again proposed a ...
... birds must have originated separately from a predinosaur reptilian ancestor on the basis that bird - like dinosaurs lacked a furcula ( the fused collarbones , or " wishbone " ) . In 1973 , Yale paleontologist John Os- trom again proposed a ...
Contents
Contents | 8 |
Flight Form and Function | 15 |
Origins Evolution | 39 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Accidental Species Adult annual survival Altricial areas avian behavior bill bird species bird's birders body breeding season brood Bushtit cavities chicks colonies color Cowbird declines desert displays DNA-DNA hybridization ducks eastern eggs example feathers feed feet female finches fish fledging flight flocks Florida Flycatcher foraging forest frigatebirds genera genus grassland grebes ground groups gulls habitat hatching hawks hummingbirds hybridization icterids incubation insects kleptoparasitism males mates Mexico migration migratory molt monogamous nest sites nonbreeding North America Northern Nuthatch occur pair parasites parents passerines Petrel plant plovers plumage polygynous populations predators prey range Sandpiper scolopacids seabirds shorebirds shrubland similar songbirds songs southern Sparrow species Storm-Petrel subfamily subspecies tail tanagers terns territory Thrasher thrushes tion toes trees tropical Tropicbirds tundra typically tyrant flycatchers usually vegetation Vireo vocalizations Warbler western wetlands wings winter wood-warblers woodland Woodpecker Worldwide Family Features Wrens young