Life and Work
The son of Yale University ornithologist Fred Sibley, David Sibley began birding in childhood. A largely self-taught bird illustrator, he was inspired to pursue creating his own illustrated field guide after leading tours in the 1980s and 1990s and finding that existing field guides did not generally illustrate or describe alternate or juvenile plumages of birds. He cites European wildlife artist Lars Jonsson as a great influence on his own work. In 2002, he received the Roger Tory Peterson Award from the American Birding Association for lifetime achievement in promoting the cause of birding. In 2006, he was awarded the Linnaean Society of New York's Eisenmann Medal.
Sibley is married, with two sons, and currently lives in Concord, Massachusetts. He is not known to be related to ornithologist Charles Sibley, although his father studied under and worked for Charles at Yale. Charles did some genealogical research but found they could be no closer than fourth cousins.
Read more about this topic: David Allen Sibley
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