David Allen Sibley


David Allen Sibley is an American ornithologist. He is the author and illustrator of The Sibley Guide to Birds, which rivals Roger Tory Peterson'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 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.
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: