CANTON -- SUNY Canton will kick off its scholarly activities celebration with a presentation by renowned illustrator and ornithologist David Allen Sibley at 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 17, in the Richard W. Miller Campus Center.

Sibley is the author and illustrator of the New York Times best-selling book, "The Sibley Guide to Birds," which was published in 2000 and is widely considered as the most comprehensive guide to North American birds.

A second edition of the popular field guide was released in 2014. Both editions feature thousands of beautifully detailed illustrations of hundreds of bird species.

"We're incredibly fortunate to have David kick off our Scholarly Activities Celebration this year," said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Douglas M. Scheidt.

"He has dedicated almost his entire life to researching, documenting and studying birds, and his work will most certainly be an inspiration for our students and faculty."

Originally from Plattsburgh, Sibley was seven years old when he began drawing birds and was inspired to create his own illustrated field guide after finding that existing guides lacked diversity in regard to images of the physical variations of each species.

The final draft of his first edition took more than six years to complete.

In addition to "The Sibley Guide to Birds," he's also the author of "The Birds of Cape May," "The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior," "The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America," "The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America," "Hawks in Flight," and "Sibley's Birding Basics."

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.

A reception and art exhibition of his work will be held from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Richard W. Miller Campus Center's Woodcock Conference Suite.

He will speak at 5:30 p.m. in the Kingston Theater.

The event is free and open to the public.

As part of the Scholarly Activities Celebration, student research and projects will be on display in the Southworth Library Learning Commons from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 (with oral presentations beginning at 4 p.m. in Cook Hall, Room 200) and in Nevaldine Hall at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 20.

Both exhibitions are also free and open to the public.