My parents are guest blogging for me this week! Thanks guys!

I’m Jack, Julia’s dad. BTW- I really don’t look like that guy in the middle of the photo anymore that was on the blog from Friday. If you’re curious, you can see what I look like now, by linking to my website here. I have a serious interest in birding and so I thought I’d write about my favorite bird-watching field guide, “The Sibley Guide to Birds,” written and illustrated by David Allen Sibley. Sibley took about 12 years to complete this book, which has about 6600 amazing illustrations of birds. Even if you don’t want to go birding, it is a treat to see the beautiful drawings Sibley made. The drawings in a field guide are special because they need to be drawn accurately and in a way that can be used to identify a bird easily. The illustrator must find the correct angle to show all of the significant field marks and show the bird in all of its various plumages. You would think that a simple photograph would be better for identifying birds, but illustrations are usually much better. That’s because a photograph shows only one particular bird, while a good illustration looks like a typical bird of a particular species. With a photograph, lighting and camera angle can change the appearance of a bird as well. This book has become the favorite for many birders and a little while after the first one was published, Sibley published a smaller, more pocket-able version. There are many other terrific field guides, but this book has now become the standard for many serious birders. Tomorrow, I tell you about my favorite illustrator, besides Julia, of course.

© Julia Rothman 2007