Sibley’s Birding Basics

Books that are sold directly through this website can be signed according to your instructions, including a personalized inscription. At checkout you will see a box where you can enter any special instructions for signing or inscription, and I will take care of that before I ship the books.

To see a list of books that are sold through this website click here. (Prints are also sold directly here and all are signed)

If you would like a signed copy of a book that is not sold here, the easiest way is to check my events schedule and contact the bookstore at one of my upcoming events. Most stores will be happy to take your order for a book with inscription and shipping, and I will sign the book when I am at the store.

If you already own a book and would like it signed, you can catch up to me in person at one of my events and I will be happy to sign it.

They are all the same (with one exception). The Sibley Guides to Birds and Trees have only one binding, called “flexibound”. It is a flexible cover, thicker than a typical paperback and extending beyond the page edges. It is intermediate between the traditional “paperback” and “hardcover” styles, and many sellers list it as one of those two categories.

Regardless of how it is listed, all copies for sale have the same flexibound cover. The only exception is the Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, which was originally published in a hardcover binding, but is now sold as flexibound.

It is a book for birders of all levels. In origin and concept it is an expanded introduction to the field guide. It covers all of the fundamentals of bird identification with the goal of helping you understand the techniques of birding and the patterns of variation in birds. In that way it will help you get more out of the field guide. A motivated beginner will learn a lot from it, and there is a lot that will also be of interest (if not new) to the experienced birder.

A “flexibound” binding is a flexible cover that is thicker than a typical paperback and extends beyond the page edges. It is intermediate between the traditional “paperback” and “hardcover” styles, and many sellers simply list it as one of those categories, causing some confusion.