The Sibley Birder's Life List and Field Diary

Best life list I've ever seen. Excellent layout and quality.

I love this book, but first let me tell you about the issues I've found with it. Some of the page numbers in the index are incorrect. There are also some birds that are missing. Since 2024, new species have been identified. I had to write in the Northern House Wren because the book only has the House Wren. There are now several distinct species of House Wren. But since there is a section with blank pages, it was easy to simply write it in myself. Also, the Ospey is listed 3 times in a row in the index. However... It's exactly what I was looking for. I had been keeping my life list in a simple notebook, but it was getting full and I had several duplicate birds because it wasn't organized. Now I use the index, find the bird on the checklist, and done! I love that it also has a section for each bird where you can write in your notes about each one, plus a numbered list for writing your life list in order so you know your total count. It took a few days, but I copied my entire list. Now I won't have duplicate birds!

Simply super and a lot of effort by Sibley to make things easier for novice and advanced birders like me. I record both the sighting and check off the ticks on the taxonomic list. Checking the list helps me learn my bird taxonomy better because I'm constantly referring to it. I had no problem with it not including the birds of Hawaii until I discovered I was going to Hawaii. Oh well, I still wouldn't trade it. A key part of this is the alphabetical index in the back giving reference to both sighting page and checklist page. Thank you Mr. Sibley!

I'm reviewing as a beginner birder. I have Sibley's first edition for western birds. THIS IS NOT A FIELD GUIDE; it is a keep-in-your-car-or-at-home companion to your field notebook/pad. Record in your field notebook/pad then transcript into this diary. This diary is split into three sections: The first section is a species listing and entry for your first sighting, with fields for date, location, and empty space for notes. The species are listed in an order similar to Sibley's field guides. The next section is a checklist in the same species order as the first section. Each species has a row of seven boxes for you to check off for your multiple sightings. The last section is the life list. Each of page contains 64 rows for a total of 1024 entries. How can diary be improved? Well the ability to cross reference between three sections. The index is alphabetized by species name and it lists two page numbers, one for the species listing and the other for checklist. To entry a new species, it is faster to check the index then flip through the pages for first two sections. What I find tedious is having to refer back to the index after filling out species listing. It takes times make an entry, so by the time you are done writing down the date, times, and additional notes you forget the page number for checklist. Back to index again to find checklist page. Here is my suggestion: each species in both section should reference each other since the page numbers are fixed. The species listing section should have a field with the page number for the checklist and each species in the checklist should have the page numbers next to boxes for species listing. No back and forth to index! The last part of a new species entry is the life list. You list a new species in the order you see them. An improvement would be a field in the species listing where you can write the page number of that species in the life list. It would nice to have, but in the mean time I have been writing in the notes space what page to find the species in the life list. There is enough space in each species' row to entry the page numbers for species listing and checklist, but it would be nice to have pre-printed fields. Overall, I am satisfied with purchasing. It does a good job of keeping track of species. The improvements I have suggested are to make it easier to enter new species and avoid making duplicate entries for an existing ones.

This journal (diary/life list) is great. Well laid out and useful. It is exactly what was advertised - a place for checklists and keeping notes of personal sightings. It was never meant to be a field guide or ID book, reviewers giving this a low rating for not having photos clearly did not understand its purpose. However, where It could be improved is the quality of the paper used for the cover. This book is meant to be used for years and years - to hold one's LIFE LIST. But the cover seems rather flimsy and I doubt that it will hold up well with use over many years. The inside pages are great - clearly meant for use, but I think the cover should have been laminated and/or a bit thicker stock. I rated this as a 5, but the cover issues makes me wish I could rate it a 4.5. Were the cover better, it would be a clear 5.

Love my Sibley Life List book. There are 3 sections.....first a section with species and a place to write when and where you saw it with a space for notes and observations . Next is the checklist section where you just check off what species you've seen. There are 6 columns for check marks which had me wondering why at first. Then I thought of some reasons why you might want multiple columns. If you're doing a big year, you could use one column for that. Even if you're not doing a big year, you could separate out your sightings by year. For now, I'm just using one column. The last section is a numbered blank list where you write in the species you've seen. If you're worried about repeating a species, look back to your checklist to see if you've recorded it. This has prevented me from writing duplicates more than once. The index is arranged a little differently than field guides. Instead of looking up American Crow under C for crow, it's under A for American Crow. All birds are listed by their proper names, so you will need to know this while using the index. My only complaint is that the print in the index is a light gray and a little hard for me to read.

Love the book. Super easy to use and well built. Cover came scuffed though.

Upon reading the Amazon reviews prior to purchasing this book, I’ve noticed a lot of post saying part of the pages were printed upside down. I thought this was a very artistic way to liven up a bird watcher’s life. This is the reason why I bought this book. Now receiving the book I have thoroughly look through each page and the book is properly printed with no pages upside down. I am a little disappointed, however, I am still very pleased with the product. Highly recommend, and if you can get a misprinted book, you are lucky one.

Bought for my father in law who is an avid birder. He loved it, ended up having a bunch of Sibley’s books himself. Definitely worth the buy for that birder in your life.

Not very good

This is a definitive must for serious birders, place of which was empty. The only other notebook needed is one's own blank notebook for sketches and field notes. By nature, Sibley's life list does not have enough room for field notes, that is a trait common in all life lists. I have used a number of life lists and similar birders' notebooks, and Sibley's life list is the ultimate one. Once you use it, you realize that it serves all the needs of recording birds you have seen. Great work by David Sibley.

An informed book for birders. I use it often.

I love this book! A great way to keep my sightings organized in a variety of ways.