A Matter of Art and Passion

Joe Meche is a member of the board of directors of the North Cascades Audubon Society and has been the editor of the chapter newsletter for the past six years. Joe has been photographing birds and landscapes for over thirty years and has been watching birds for more than fifty years.

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America

Written and Illustrated by David Allen Sibley
Knopf, 2003
471 pp., softbound, $19.95
ISBN 0-679-45121-8

David Allen Sibley began sketching birds when he was only seven years old. (How many of us can claim to have begun our life’s work while in the first grade?) As the son of noted ornithologist Fred Sibley, it’s not surprising that birds were a big part of his life. His early obsession became the passion which motivated him to create what many consider to be the ultimate field guide, “The Sibley Guide to Birds,” in October of 2000.

The “Sibley Guide,” as it’s commonly known, became the latest in a long line of natural history books about birds. In 1838, “Birds of America,” by John James Audubon, was the first illustrated book of North American birds. Almost one hundred years later, in 1934, Roger Tory Peterson created the first field guide, appropriately named “Field Guide to the Birds.” Peterson used paintings and drawings to give us images of birds as they appear in the field.

The Peterson guide has gone through numerous printings and revised editions, and spawned a plethora of other field guides. According to many experts, the publication of Sibley’s volume in 2000 raised the standard for field guides. This book was the culmination of 12 years of work by Sibley, and future field guides will always be compared to this one.

One of the main criticisms about this incredible volume was that it was too large to really be considered a field guide. The main reason for its size was that Sibley wanted to include more information than had ever been in any field guide before. For each of the 810 species covered in the guide, he included range maps, songs and calls, silhouettes, and even flight patterns. He also provided an exhaustive array of plumage variations for each species.

In two and a half years, this became the fastest-selling bird book/field guide of all time, with more than 620,000 copies in print.

Sibley provided encores to his field guide with the “Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior” and “Sibley’s Birding Basics.” Both of these works provided even more information about the birds of North America and offered tips on how to become a better birdwatcher. And just when you thought he was finished, David Allen Sibley has prepared two additional volumes for birdwatchers: “The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America” and “The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America.”

David Allen Sibley paid a return visit to Village Books on May 4, on the occasion of the publication of his two latest works. At first glance, these field guides seem to have addressed a primary concern of the original Sibley guide—the size. These field guides will actually fit in your pocket, but you only need one, depending on where in the country you happen to be.

These two works, which cover all the birds found in their respective parts of the country, are now highly portable and much lighter than the encyclopedic “Guide to Birds.”

These are properly considered to be field guides. The book signing was well-attended and served as a testimonial to the number of local residents with an interest in birds and books about birds.

Due to my good fortune and a number of e-mails with Sibley’s publicist in New York, I was able to take him on a six-hour tour of some of Whatcom County’s birding hotspots on Monday, the day after his evening at Village Books. We started our tour in Blaine and continued around Drayton Harbor to Semiahmoo, Birch Bay, Lake Terrell and finally to Tennant Lake.

While we were birding, David was always the picture of concentration, and a small sketch pad came out on a regular basis. His quiet, unassuming manner carries over into the field, and his skill at field identification is superb.

My own most-often heard comment was that we were about a month late for the big numbers. He had requested a good look at brant but, unfortunately, we found none. I shouldn’t have been concerned because David Sibley appreciates all birds and is completely focused on seeing whatever’s available. You might say that he was sort of a cheap date, if you will.

We did take time to hang out with a latte at the coffee shop at Semiahmoo, where I pressed him for a few details about his obsession with birds, his art and the rest of his life. The following interview contains excerpts from our fine day of birding in the north county.

Joe Meche: Since your father was an active and well-known ornithologist, it’s understandable that you might have been interested in birds by association. Who inspired you to begin drawing birds?

David Sibley: I was actually inspired by my older brother. I watched him sketch birds and after I tried my hand at it, I was hooked. To this day, I still think he’s a better artist than I am.

JM: Have you ever had any formal training as an artist?

DS: Not really. I attended a workshop once just to learn about techniques, but I still think most of my ability comes from drawing a lot and listening to my brother’s critiques.

JM: Is there a bird artist whose work you enjoy?

DS: I really like the art of Lars Jonsson. He’s a Swedish artist who captures the essence of birds and their habitats. His paintings are magnificent in the way he captures colors and light. He’s also quite respected as an ornithologist. He spends a lot of time in the field and it shows in his work.

JM: I’ve seen photos of you standing behind some pretty serious lenses; do you photograph birds as well?

DS: I’ve taken quite a few photographs of birds but I prefer sketching in the field. The big lenses are often too much of a hassle to carry, as opposed to my sketch pad and a scope or binoculars. I’ll use photos, but mainly to check on certain details that I might have missed in the field.

JM: Which birds have you found to be the most difficult to capture in your painting?

DS: The common birds are the most difficult. I don’t think I’ve ever been totally happy with my crows or robins, or even house sparrows. I keep seeing things that I might have missed.

JM: Do you have favorite places to watch and sketch birds?

DS: No doubt about it—Cape May, New Jersey. It might have to do with a combination of factors. For one thing, I’ve spent a whole lot of time there over the years. But the main thing is that there is always a tremendous variety of birds to be found at Cape May through most of the year. During spring and fall migrations, there’s no place better.

JM: What’s your main source of information about birds?

DS: A lot of it comes from personal experience and information from other birders. I read a lot of ornithological books as well, especially when I’m researching specifics about a particular species

JM: When you finished the “Guide to Birds,” did you have a plan to do the eastern and western versions, or was that something that came about by popular demand; i.e., in response to the sentiment expressed over the size?

DS: I’d have to say that it was a combination of things. I had always planned to break the guide down into two volumes, but the publisher saw that the time was right to proceed a bit earlier than I had planned. The publisher thought it would be a simple matter of just slashing the book in two, but as you know, there’s a lot more involved than that. Many of the birds occur on both sides of the country and these had to be addressed; all the text had to be edited to fit the smaller format; all the drawings and maps had to be reviewed and also edited to fit into the proper guides; and much more. At least the 12 years of effort had established a good base from which to work; although, new information that had come out since 2000 had to be reviewed.

JM: Do you see all field guides as variations on a theme and do you see them continuing to evolve?

DS: Yes, and yes. I felt that when I did the “Guide to Birds” that I had created the ideal guide, but then the smaller versions created new challenges to compress all that info into two portable field guides. With the technology that’s available, someday there will be an electronic field guide that makes all the old ones obsolete. I would always prefer the feel of a book, though.

JM: Do you have plans to do more field guides?

DS: I have a few ideas in mind but nothing that I care to divulge at this time.

JM: The popularity of birdwatching has increased dramatically in the past decade. Field guides, including yours, are frequently on the bestseller lists. To what do you attribute this increased interest in birds?

DS: Many people used to live closer to nature, but now more people live in cities and towns and have lost the connection with nature. Birds are accessible and highly visible and the fact that they can fly creates a feeling of freedom of movement that humans often envy. The fact that birds are energetic and beautiful appeals to people on many different levels. No matter where you go in the country, there are birds to observe and study. Birdwatching is something you can do your entire life. I’ve heard stories of people who were bedridden but had their beds positioned so they could see their bird feeders and watch birds all day long. And then, the more you learn about birds, the more involved you become.

JM: I won’t assume that you have any, but what do you do with your free time?

DS: When I have free time, I enjoy spending it with my family. I enjoy biking, especially mountain biking. Of course, I will stop to have a look at a good bird if I see one.

If you’re considering building a birding library, the Sibley series is a fine way to start. Consider the larger tomes and the small guide to birding basics as part of the stay-at-home volumes, and take the new field guide with you into the field. When you go to Village Books to shop for bird books, focus your attention on three names—Audubon, Peterson, and Sibley. What many consider to be the ultimate field guide, “The Sibley Guide to Birds.” §