David Allen Sibley's Blog, page 5

A white Great Blue Heron in Massachusetts

I wrote about white Great Blue Herons in 2007, and thanks to a recent comment there by David Ammerman alerting me to a whitish Great Blue Heron chick in a nest, I made the short trip to Bolton, MA yesterday (July 7, 2016). It was not hard to find the nest, and I was able […]

The post A white Great Blue Heron in Massachusetts appeared first on Sibley Guides.

New Bird Puzzles made from Sibley Guides art

Two jigsaw puzzles are now available from Eurographics, featuring over 100 species of North American birds with images from the revised Sibley Guide to Birds. The same collage of species is shown in either a 1000 piece puzzle, or a larger (and more challenging) 2000 piece puzzle. 1000 piece puzzle: Order from Puzzle Warehouse 15.99 […]

The post New Bird Puzzles made from Sibley Guides art appeared first on Sibley Guides.

The Mississippi Ornithological Society meeting

Thank you to the birders of Mississippi for a wonderful weekend April 28-29 around Oxford. Special thanks to the MOS, Delta Wind Birds, The Strawberry Plains Audubon Center, Wild Birds Unlimited of Jackson, and the other sponsors for making it all possible. The birding was excellent, as passing thunderstorms pushed migrants down and kept birds […]

The post The Mississippi Ornithological Society meeting appeared first on Sibley Guides.

The Arcata Godwit Days Festival, 2016

My time in Arcata, CA, taking part in the annual Godwit Days Festival, just wrapped up. The birding was fantastic, the weather could not have been better, and the people were outstanding. Thanks to everyone for making it happen. I only have a few photos to share, since photography was definitely not a priority for […]

The post The Arcata Godwit Days Festival, 2016 appeared first on Sibley Guides.

Two new paintings for auction

I’ve just posted two more paintings for auction, a Bewick’s Wren and a Black-throated Green Warbler, adding to the two auctions that will be ending in the next few days. You can see the full listing of current auctions here, and more original art and prints are available for sale here.

The post Two new paintings for auction appeared first on Sibley Guides.

New! Revised Eastern and Western Field Guides

After two years of work, the completely redesigned and revised editions of my Eastern and Western Field Guides will go on sale March 29, 2016. The new editions are the same size as the 2003 versions, but the layout has been changed to match the format of the larger Sibley Guide to Birds, with each […]

The post New! Revised Eastern and Western Field Guides appeared first on Sibley Guides.

New quizzes on estimating numbers

I have just created a large set of new quizzes designed to test your skills at estimating numbers. You can enter the site at SibleyBirds.com, and you will also find a brief discussion of the art of estimating numbers. This is very much a “beta” version, so thanks in advance for your patience if anything doesn’t […]

The post New quizzes on estimating numbers appeared first on Sibley Guides.

White flickers

  This beautiful and striking bird is a partial albino Northern Flicker, photographed in Massachusetts in Sep 2015 by Michael Beagan. A second, very similar, bird had been photographed nearby in 2012 by John Harrison, and – besides being very attractive birds – the two provide a good opportunity to discuss some of the details […]

The post White flickers appeared first on Sibley Guides.

Underwing pattern in Cory’s Shearwater

If you keep up on the news of subspecies, you will have heard of Scopoli’s Shearwater. It’s the Mediterranean breeding population of Cory’s Shearwater, overlapping very little with populations nesting on Atlantic Islands, and many authorities have split the two into separate species recently. Both populations occur off the Atlantic coast of North America, although Cory’s in […]

The post Underwing pattern in Cory’s Shearwater appeared first on Sibley Guides.

Peregrine Falcon raiding the tern colony

While I was at Great Gull Island, New York, July 3-5, two different Peregrine Falcons were passing through the tern colony. I never saw one catch a tern, but they were definitely hunting as they rocketed over the island low and fast with about a hundred screaming terns right behind, then turned and made another […]

The post Peregrine Falcon raiding the tern colony appeared first on Sibley Guides.