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Roger Tory Peterson

Artist, writer, photographer, and dean of American ornithologists. Recipient of many awards and honorary degrees. Author and artist of the popular Peterson Field Guide Series. Author, co-author, and contributing author of many books.

My friend, the late James Fisher, the British ornithologist, wrote: 'The observation of birds may be a superstition, a tradition, an art, a science, a pleasure, a hobby or . . . a bore; this depends upon the observer. He should have included 'a sport' which is precisely what much of modern 'birding' is all about - checking them off on the little white checklists. The score is the thing. Eventually many listers graduate to other facets of birdwatching. Some turn to wildlife photography, others become skilled artists, while a few make real contributions to the science of ornithology. Still others become activists in the environmental movement. In a letter to the Brooks Bird Club, 1982.

 

Eventually many listers graduate to other facets of birdwatching. Some turn to wildlife photography, others become skilled artists. while a few make real contributions to the science of ornithology. Still others become activists in the environmental movement. Ibid.

 

The need for wilderness is in most men; there is a strong craving for naturalness in a high-pressure world. Wild America, 1955.

 

Some would say it (birding) is a form of escapism and perhaps it is, in a way - but not an escape from reality; rather a flight from the unreal things - from the "somnambulism of the hive" as Louise Halle calls it. The Bird Watcher's Anthology, 1957.

 

Ducks seem proportionately more plentiful than they really are because they concentrate in large visible flocks while land birds are distributed acre by acre over millions of square miles of American soil. Birds Over America, 1948.

 

It is the strength of any environment, the food and cover, that determine how many birds can live there. Ibid.

 

In my teens, the mere glimpse of a bird would change my listlessness to fierce intensity. I lived for birds. Ibid.

 

We invent systems, Socialism, Fascism, Communism and Capitalism. Each despises the other. Yet, as Professor Aldo Leopold of the University of Wisconsin pointed out, they all espouse one creed: salvation by machinery. Ibid.

 

Birds don't reciprocate your interest . . . They can certainly live without me, but I don't think I could live without birds. The Art and Photography of the World's Foremost Birder, by R. T. Peterson, Rudy Hoglund, William Zinsser, and John Leo.