It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a California Condor!

Birds, as well as birdhouses, have always fascinated me. Since my husband and I have been semi-retired and doing a lot of traveling, we have found ourselves being exposed to more and more birds that are not native to our area of the United States.

My husband's daughter, knowing our fascination with our fine feathered friends gave him National Audubon Society® The Sibley Guide to Birds as a birthday gift in January. This books has been a valuable source of information to us ever since it came into our home and motorhome.

The Sibley Guide to Birds author, David Allen Sibley, America's most gifted contemporary painter of birds, is the author and illustrator of this guide. He is the son of the well-known ornithologist Fred Sibley. David began seriously watching and drawing birds in 1969 at age seven He has written and illustrated articles on bird identification for Birding and American Birds (now Field Notes) as well as regional publications and books.

The Sibley Guide to Birds starts out letting us know how each page is laid out, telling us that the information and illustrations for each species are arranged in the same way on every page, with size, flight, voice, and other topics always in the same position. Comparing any species to another involves simply scanning horizontally across the pages.

Each page is laid out thus:
Name of the species or group (genus, family, etc) shown on the page.
Characteristic habits and habitats of the species highlighted, as well as relationships to other species.
Common name.
Measurements: not just length but wingspan and weight for every species. Length is measured from bill tip to tail tip. There is a chart at the front of the book so that you can convert standard measurements to metric. Along with the chart is a ruler comparing inches with centimeters.
Key structural features and field marks for each species highlighted.
Both the underside and upperside of flying birds, often with more than one example of each species to show variation in wing and tail patterns. Small silhouettes of some species show wingbeat pattern or characteristic shapes.
Seasonal plumages are labeled with typical date spans. Illustrations of flying birds are at the top, above the perched or swimming birds, which are arranged from drabbest plumage at the top to the brightest at the bottom.
All significant age, sex and seasonal variations are show and clearly labeled.
Key features and field marks are described alongside the illustrations.
All significant geographic variations are illustrated and labeled with simple regional names.
Voice is described in detail for each species and is compared to similar species. Songs, typical calls, flight calls, and other common vocalizations are described.
Maps show the complete North American range for every species, including migration routes and vagrant records. Some show additionals illustrations or text, describing geographic or individual variation, hybrids, diagnostic behavior, etc.

The front of the books devotes seven pages to bird topography. This is the basic parts and feathers of different birds. My Sibley tells us that knowing the basic feather groups and how the feathers in each group are arranged may be the most important tools a birder can possess when trying to identify a bird by its appearance. So this is one part of the book that you wouldn't want to pass up if you are a serious birder.

While we were in Arizona visiting the Grand Canyon a couple of weeks ago we had our eleven year old grandson with us. While there we were in absolute awe that we got to experience the sight of two California Condors in flight. Soaring so gracefully above the canyon. Luckily we had our binoculars with us so that we could observe them. Our grandson was asking questions of us about the California Condor. Thankfully we keep our The Sibley Guide to Birds in our motorhome. When we got back to the motorhome after our day at the Grand Canyon we looked up the California Condor.

Here is what we found out about the California Condor: It is in the Diurnal Raptors group, New World Vultures species. California Condor is one of our largest and rarest birds. Rescued from extinction by intensive human efforts, it is now found in several locations where captive-bred birds have been released. It has a length of 46 inches, and a wingspan of 109 inches. it will weigh about 23 lbs. It is the largest raptor, larger than eagles; broad wings with long, "fingered" primaries ( nine or ten long flight feathers growing from "hand" bones and forming lower border of folded wing). They have splayed "fingers" when soaring. Their wingbeats are slow, smooth; wings held level or slightly raised. Vultures have distinctive habit of occasionally flexing wings down. Juvenile birds are mostly all black all over. Juveniles neck begins to turn pink in third year, adult like (completely pink head and neck) in 5th year. Adults have white under wing and white tips top wing feathers. Their voice is silent; limited to hissing and grunting. Wings produce loud swishing noise. The map shows their area as a very small area in California and a very small area in Arizona.

It also tells us that recent research suggests that New World vultures are more closely related to storks than to hawks and eagles; some authorities even merge vultures and storks into a single family. IN this book, vultures are retained in their traditional position alongside hawks and eagles because of the strong (even if only superficial) resemblance between the groups.

The Sibley Guide to Birds provides us with a wealth of new information:
Captioned illustrations show many previously unpublished field marks and revisions of known marks.
Nearly every species is shown in flight.
Measurements include length, wingspan, and weight for every species.
Subspecies and geographic variants are covered thoroughly.
Complete voice descriptions are included for every species.
Maps show the complete distribution of every species: summer, and winter ranges, migration routes and rare occurrences.

The Sibley Guide to Birds also features:
An introductory page for each family or group of related families makes comparisons simple.
Clear and concise labels with pointers identify field marks directly.
Birds are illustrated in similar poses to make comparisons between species quick and easy.
Illustrations emphasize the way birds look in the field.

There is an index at the end so that you can flip back there if you want to look up a certain bird quickly.

The Sibley Guide to Birds has more than 6,600 beautiful illustrations and descriptions of 810 species and 350 regional populations. Even when we are not out watching birds, this book is so interesting that I find myself looking through it when we are parked and relaxing after a day of sightseeing. Looking through it helps me to recognize some of the different birds that we see along the roads we travel, without having to get the book out.

The Sibley Guide to Birds jacket is beautifully illustrated by the author. On the front is a Red-tailed Hawk, the front flap has a Elegant Trogon, and on the spine is a Tricolored Heron. If you want to check out the artwork of the author you can go to his website: www.sibleyart.com

The inside front flap shows the price for this book at $35.00 US and $53.00 Canada. I doubt that my husbands daughter paid $35.00 for it since she got it at Sam's Wholesale Club. No matter where she got it, it has been one of the most wonderful gifts she could have given her Dad (and me)!