Designed to enhance the birding experience and to enrich the popular study of North American birds, this book combines more than 795 full-color illustrations with authoritative text by 48 expert birders and biologists. In this guide Sibley takes us beyond identification, to show us how birds live and what they do. Introductory essays outline the principles of avian evolution, life cycle, body structure, flight dynamics, and more. The 80 family-by-family chapters describe the amazing range of behavior dictated by birds' biology and environment. Among the subjects covered and illustrated are: --molts and plumages --habitats --food and foraging --vocalizations and displays --courtship and breeding --rearing of young --migration and movements --scientific groupings --introduced species --accidental species --anatomy --flight patterns --nests and eggs --conservation --global distribution. Accessibly written, superbly designed and organized, and brilliantly illustrated, The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior is an indispensable source of information on the avian life around us. 608 Pages