The Sibley Guide to Birds, 2nd Edition (Sibley Guides)

**UPDATE 2**
I have purchased the second printing of this second edition and I am very happy with the corrections. The richer colors add new life to Sibley's paintings, the text is clear and easy to read and the layout is much improved. Page space is better utilized in this edition, allowing Sibley's beautiful illustrations to take center stage. The only caution I add is that, to my knowledge, there is no way to know what printing of the second edition you are purchasing when ordering through Amazon.com.

**UPDATE**
The second printing has been released and should be available at brick & mortar book stores as well as a number of online stores. Hopefully Amazon will make a distinction between the first and second printings so that its customers can order the correct one. In case there is no way of knowing which printing you are buying from Amazon, I offer the following 2 options:

1) Go to a brick and mortar book store and physically purchase the guide. You will want to turn to the copyright page and look for "Second printing, July 2014". If it says "Second Edition, March 2014" then you are holding the first printing with the off colors and light font.

2) Go to an alternative online source such as Buteo Books, where the second printing is in stock, available for shipping and it is specified as the second printing. They even have the option to buy the first printing if one is so inclined.

When I obtain the second printing, I will update this review. So far, I have heard good things: the font is readable and the colors are more representative of what one would see in the field. I'm looking forward to this second printing!
**

A very annoying feature of this guide is the font. Not the size necessarily, but where many of the bird illustrations are WAY too dark, the font is way too light and lacks contrast. I keep tilting the book to get a better angle as if the text is catching or reflecting light but it's not. I have great eyesight, but I find the text a strain to read. Many of the birds are too dark and the colors are simply wrong. This shouldn't be a matter of opinion. The book betrays itself with statements like "brilliant red" on the scarlet tanager when it's obviously showing dark red; "flaming-orange throat" on the blackburnian when it's dark orange; "bright orange-red bill (never as dark red as many Caspians)" on the royal tern, well it's not bright and when you flip to the Caspian it's almost the same color! The orange-crowned warbler is green, the hooded warbler has a highlighter-yellow face, the baltimore oriole's orange is more like an american robin's red and there are many more disappointments. Some of the bird's faces are so dark that you can barely discern any detail. Sibley set the bar and his second edition does not measure up.

Update: Thank you to R. Matz for providing a link to an article from birdforum.net in which Sibley has stated in a Facebook correspondence "There are a few images (like the male Scarlet Tanager) that are obviously not OK and will be corrected in the next printing, but I think that involves a very small number of images. The font is another issue, and it's clear that too many are finding it hard to read. Tests are already being done to find a way to fix that in the next printing."

Improving the readability of the text will be a major improvement. Along with the male Scarlet Tanager, I hope Sibley will fix color issues with the following birds:
- Eastern and Western Bluebirds (too dark)
- Orange-crowned Warbler (too green)
- Blackburnian Warbler (make the orange "flaming")
- Baltimore Oriole (brighten the orange)
- Lighten some of the birds on which the facial features cannot be discerned

I look forward to the next printing (which should be available this September)and the fixes it will offer. A "Thank you" to B. Walker for contacting Knopf to find out that a fix is in the works and that we should have a new print available to purchase by late Summer.

Just to be clear on which printing of the second edition that is sold by Amazon now (Feb 2019), it is the "Fourth printing, December 2017". The images are 15% to 20% larger than those of the first edition. That was accomplished by reducing the page margins and by making the text smaller. The last numbered page is 598 which is 54 pages more than my first edition. However, both editions have the same dimensions because the pages are thinner in the second edition.

I waited a long time for this new edition and ordered two copies.
. I really enjoy the updated nomenclature, species in the current order , the addition of 111 species which should have been in the first edition IMHO, also the additional information and ID aids are greatly appreciated.

I am however disappointed in the illustrations compared to the first edition to the point The colors came out over saturated especially on darker birds and most are now much to dark compared to the first edition...Compare the two editions on birds like Willet, Spotted Sandpiper, Poorwill or almost everything dark. I do like his fix on the Parula page, but still find such species as Clay-colored Sparrow over saturated. They do not reflect reality as noted in the field. This likely a production problem and I am sure Mr. Sibley is not happy about this. This really bums me out and I just am never going to get used to it.

In addition the font size of the type has been reduced significantly and is not black but is a "gray" that makes reading it, especially for older folks, a real challenge.

Yes I will keep a copy for sure for the information therein as I find it of great value, but I will not be giving up my first edition anytime soon and NGS will remain my primary general field guide. or at least the until the printers/press correct the color and print darkness.... I applaud and thank Mr. Sibley on his significant effort and realize that once things go to press/printers he loses a lot of control is lost over what happens there. I am sure the publisher has copies in the 4 digits it needs to sell...But not to me the way it is now. I had to return extra copies today which I was sad about. I still think folks should at least have one copy.

No one can question Sibley's technical and artistic skills when it comes to birding, but similar to other reviews, I simply couldn't read the text. The font was too small and the font color was too washed out. Literally, after 5 minutes, I just couldn't read more.
Just to be clear too, I would not classify this as a field guide. It is way too heavy for that, it's literally 3 lbs and I doubt few would venture into the field with this. I work out with weights 5 days a week and this book is heavy, partly driven by the high quality paper,
It's clear that Sibley put huge effort into the illustrations and updating the content. And kudos to him for that! But you have to question the editors who laid out some of the content. I just found the layout often fragmented and hard to follow.
As a pure field guide, I still prefer the National Geographic Guide. It's simpler to use, find your birds faster and provides more succinct and helpful written descriptions.
As a reference source, Sibley's new edition is fine, but for an everyday go to bird guide, it doesn't work for me and I returned it.

Although the updates and species additions are a nice improvement I find the muddy over saturated colors to be a huge distraction. The dark colors basically obliterate the plumage details necessary for study and reference of many of the species found within. I have always felt the the Sibley Guide first edition was short on text but the delicate images were very useful as a reference. Not so with the second edition. I feel that I have wasted my money and even worse am very disappointed that this long awaited reference will probably never leave my bookshelf.

Avid Birder

Please be aware that you're purchasing the March 2014 printing. This printing contains errors (according to some sources), color plates that are "off", and VERY light printing in over a great deal of the book. There was a corrected printing in July 2014, which I believe corrected the errors, printing, and colors. Also be aware that there is a December 2015 printing which includes all corrections, plus added color plates which are 20% larger. Bad news is that the December 2015 printing will cost 40.00 versus the less than 20.00 that Amazon is charging for this edition. No wonder. I returned the March 2014 edition and Amazon refunded the cost. At this point, the only way to be assured you have a correct and current printing is to buy from a brick & mortar store and personally see that the printing is NOT the March 2014.

I pre-ordered this book in early December and greatly anticipated receiving it as my 1st edition of this guide is showing it's age

Unfortunately I am returning it.The color issues others have mentioned(too dark for some birds/ inaccurate colors for some species etc)are simply too great to be acceptable. I hope that future printings will correct this problem and also hope that when the eastern and western guides are published that color renditions of birds will be more accurate

Despite my age(65 years next month) the text issues mentioned by other reviewers did not bother me although I can understand why the light color of the text might be a problem for some readers

Otherwise the improvements in the guide compared to the first edition are commendable

I preordered the guide and was very excited to get it on the day it was released. I've spend the last couple of days going through it, and I think the colors have improved, contrary to what some others are saying. My only issue is with the text. I am in my late twenties and have never needed glasses, but I need to put this book very close to my face to read comfortably. Either I need a trip to the eye doctor, or the font is way too light to read. Otherwise I adore this book and applaud David Sibley's immense effort to create the best field guide of them all.

I didn't peruse the reviews before ordering...I mean after all, it's THE SIBLEY. The Gold Standard. What on earth could POSSIBLY be wrong with A SIBLEY?

Short answer: EVERYTHING.

Avid birder here and a reviewer for Amazon that takes his charter to be fair and unbiased VERY seriously. I really sweat the details and try to provide as fair and balance opinion as I can. And this Version 2 of what is universally acknowledged as a true reference work, well.....I can't even really adequately put into words how bad it truly is.

The fonts. To say they're microscopic is to do a disservice to all that is tiny. The first introductory pages are simply 'un-readable'. Bible fonts are larger than this font!

The color of the fonts. Not gray. Gray would be good. Washed-out gray is accurate.

The color of the plates. Equally washed out.

To add insult to injury, we order EVERYTHING from Amazon. From kitchen utensils to baby toys. And wouldn't you know it...the Sibley arrived beat to pieces. 100 orders in five years, not one problem. Sibley = problem.

Why am I not returning it?

It's so bad, why not keep it...it's how I feel. I can still (barely) read it and it is, after all, a Sibley. The items reported on are accurate and it's been a long time between v 1 and 2. Perhaps I can glean something useful from it and it's not 'break-the-bank' expensive so I'll keep it as 'a beater' if nothing else.

However:

Either Knopf or Sibley himself are responsible for what is, quite possibly, the most monumental error in publishing history. The Sibley Guide has been, universally, on par with the Peterson Guide as co-shares of the number ONE spot in bird guide history. And this new version 2 is so abysmally bad that I don't know if they will *ever* recover. Either Sibley was asleep at the Quality Assurance review or Knopf pulled of one of the worst decisions in publishing history...I guarantee we'll never know the total story. But they took an enviable number ONE position in the birder field and didn't waste it...they destroyed it.

Recommendation: Wait for the newest version or get the Nat Geo Guide. For me, Sibley has gone the way of the Dodo.

And yes, I do wish they had not.

Don't let some initial lukewarm reviews stop you from getting this wonderful guide. It's greatly expanded and improved in nearly every respect. It's packed with much more information on ID, behavior and distribution. There are more illustrations per species and coverage of many more rare species has been added. The range maps are updated and improved.

In a number of the plates the colors are noticeably darker and richer than those in the first edition. This is intentional and in almost all cases this is a welcome improvement (i.e. Accipiters, thrushes and male Redhead which were too bright/pale in the first edition). A very few species are a little too dark for my taste (such as Pink-footed Goose and White-faced and Glossy Ibis), however I don't see any illustrations so dark that they lose needed detail.

I've found the illustrations- with very few exceptions- are extremely accurate and lifelike, in typical Sibley style. In most cases the newer paintings blend seamlessly with the older and retouched artwork. Nits to pick? On a few birds the reds and oranges aren't quite right. The male Scarlet Tanager is a deeper red than it should be and the Chipping Sparrow's rust cap looks brownish, while the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak's red breast is a shade too deep and dark. But to emphasize, this is the case in only a very few illustrations. Overall the new edition more accurately portrays its subjects than the first edition (which was already pretty darn good).

There are perhaps a dozen paintings out of a total of over 900 species and 7000 illustrations that don't perfectly represent a particular bird in question (and for the most part these appear to be relatively minor color corrections needed the scanning/printing process). That's a tiny percentage of "errors" and I can't see where any of these very minor issues affect the usefulness of the guide. Nor do they affect the identification of the species involved- with the possible exception of Chipping Sparrow. Most of the plates in this second edition are no darker (or barely so) than in the first edition.

There are a few minor labeling errors which will be corrected in subsequent printings, but considering the scope of this book they are truly minimal and don't warrant much in the way of complaints.

Obviously no guide is perfect, but I really can't find anything significant to fault in the new Sibley. On the other hand, I can find plenty to praise. The quality of the paintings and printing in many cases is noticeably improved over my first edition. In fact, after looking through the new guide and then going back to the old one, I found myself even more appreciative of the changes. The excellent first edition (which I am a big fan of by the way) now looks generally overly bright and washed out by comparison. It took me just a bit of time to adjust to the deeper/darker colors in the new edition, but I'm very pleased with almost all of them. In nearly every case they accurately depict the way birds look in the field.

Another plus is the layout and general appearance of the new edition. It's cleaner and more comtemporary. The amount of text is greatly expanded and very helpful. There is so much information packed into this edition. Tips on ID (and similar species ID pitfalls), range, vagrancy, behavior are many.

I can definitely understand why some have a problem with the comparatively small narrow font (though for me- at 53- this is not an issue). On the other hand a large and darker font could detract from and take attention away from the images of the birds themselves. I find it to be just visible enough without distracting from the illustrations. Clearly however, this is a matter of personal preference.

I find this second edition to be a second remarkable achievement by David Sibley. What you are getting is worth many times the asking price. An absolute must have for any active birder or anyone interested in North American birds. The new standard.

UPDATE: I've heard of variations in printing resulting in wild variations in color reproduction. I've been able to look at three different copies of the guide (two in local bookstores and my original from amazon). The colors- in these three copies at least- were essentially identical, and all looked good to me.