David Allen Sibley (born October 22, 1961, in
Plattsburgh, New York
Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...
) is an American
ornithologist
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
. He is the author and illustrator of ''
The Sibley Guide to Birds'', which rivals
Roger Tory Peterson
Roger Tory Peterson (August 28, 1908 – July 28, 1996) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, illustrator and educator, and one of the founding inspirations for the 20th-century environmental movement.
Background
Peterson was born in Jam ...
's as the most comprehensive guides for North American ornithological field identification.
Life and work
The son of
Yale University ornithologist
Fred Sibley, David Sibley began birding in childhood.
Sibley got his start as a birdwatcher in
Cape May Point, New Jersey in 1980, after dropping out of college. A largely self-taught bird illustrator, he was inspired to pursue creating his own illustrated field guide after leading tours in the 1980s and 1990s and finding that existing field guides did not generally illustrate or describe alternate or juvenile plumages of birds. He cites European wildlife artist
Lars Jonsson Lars Jonsson or Jönsson may refer to:
*Lars Jonsson (illustrator) (born 1952), ornithological illustrator
*Lars Jonsson (ice hockey) (born 1982), Swedish ice hockey player
*Lars Theodor Jonsson (1903–1998), Swedish cross country skier
*Lars Jön ...
as a great influence on his own work.
In 2002, he received the
Roger Tory Peterson Award from the
American Birding Association for lifetime achievement in promoting the cause of birding.
In 2006, he was awarded the
Linnaean Society of New York's
Eisenmann Medal
The Eisenmann Medal is awarded by the Linnaean Society of New York (LSNY) in recognition of the recipient's ornithological excellence and encouragement of amateur efforts in ornithology and birding.
The medal commemorates the ornithologist and pro ...
.
Sibley is married, with two sons, and currently lives in
Concord, Massachusetts.
[ He is not known to be related to ornithologist Charles Sibley, although his father studied under and worked for Charles at Yale. Charles did some genealogical research but found they could be no closer than fourth cousins.
]
Publications
The following is a list of publications which Sibley has written or illustrated:
* '' The Birds of Cape May''
* ''Sibley's Birding Basics
Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company, known informally as Sibley's, was a Rochester, New York-based department store chain with stores located exclusively in the state of New York. Its flagship store, at 228 East Main Street in downtown Rochester, also ...
''
* '' The Sibley Guide to Birds''
* ''The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior
''The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior'' is a book by David Allen Sibley that shows readers "how birds live and what they do." It is different from most field-identification guides that birdwatchers carry around; rather than help identify bird ...
''
* ''The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...
''
* '' The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America''
* '' Hawks in Flight''
* '' The Sibley Guide to Trees''
* '' What It's Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing--What Birds Are Doing, and Why''
* '' Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds'', edited by Billy Collins
References
External links
Sibley Guides: Presenting the Work of David Allen Sibley
Blog- Sibley Guides
Random House Interview
Living on Earth Interview
1961 births
Living people
American ornithologists
American bird artists
People from Cape May Point, New Jersey
People from Plattsburgh, New York
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