Sibley is the author of the fastest-selling bird guide of all time, The Sibley Guide to Birds, a comprehensive field guide to North American birds published in 2000, and its companion piece, The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. In 2002 Sibley's Birding Basics, an introduction to bird identification was published, and in 2003, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America and The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America were published. A native of upstate New York, Sibley began drawing birds at age seven, and his search for birds has taken him to such birding hotspots as Cape May, New Jersey; the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas; and south Florida.

  Beginning with childhood drawings and following the evolution of his ideas for the "perfect" field guide, Sibley will discuss the things that inspired him and kept him going through the long process, as well as the challenge of presenting a huge and diverse amount of information in one book. He will also discuss the importance of the field guide as a tool, and birds as bridges that allow people to forge a connection with nature in the modern world.