The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America (ISBN 0679451218)

Very Overrated in general:
First off, the book is too big to fit in a sorta big pocket.. Too heavy and bulky to be handy. The pictures do a bad job a depicting the bird as you see it in the field. The ratio seem off and can be confusing some times. The charts it has for distinguishing one warbler from others is inefficient and confusing because there is too much to look at. It doesn't compare one birds that are similar so that you can be like how do I know if it's not this? The pictures are ugly to look at. If you saw a sparrow somewhere and you don't know anything about sparrows so that you need a book. You will not be able to figure it out using sibleys because their chart is insane. It maybe a good bird book for wildlife biologist or people who know everything already for reference sometimes, but for normal people who might need to figure out what the bird they saw was, it is not the book to use.. If you are a birder or becoming one, the blue book, A guide to field identification BIRDS of north america. It even has sonograms for some calls. There are charts comparing all the warblers.. etc by their heads so that you can pick out the one you saw between two birds if not immediately. The pictures are great. I can only say that the wrentit picture is kinda off but that bird is very unique so it's kinda hard to draw. It is a sight for sore eyes compared to the sibleys. It is better on your eyes because the pictures and organization are not ugly. In some of the pictures it has terrain in which the bird might be found sometimes. Well I am talking too much about it. Just buy BIRDS of north america because it's what all the kool kids have and sibleys sucks and is lame. pizza

Best of the best for birding:
I chose the Sibley guide from other excellent field guides principally because of the notes accompanying each drawing. These notes are short text indicators of distinguishing features of a given bird with a line connecting the note to the feature being emphasized in the drawing. Of course, the general descriptions and "range maps" are an essential part of the guide.

The perfect gift!:
I purchased this book for my fiance's birthday, as we're new to the birdwatching world. It's aboslutely wonderful, and we'll use it for many years to come.

Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America:
This is an awesome book for birders with a lot of detail and illustrations on each type of bird. I would recommend it.

Loved it!:
I think this is an excellant bird guide. I'd recommend it to anyone who is just starting out as a birder or is a lifetime lover of birds.