Roger Tory Peterson

Roger Tory Peterson (1908-1996), American naturalist, ornithologist (a scientist specializing in the study of birds), painter, photographer, and writer who informed and inspired generations of bird-watchers and other nature lovers with his precisely illustrated, clearly written field guides to the natural world.

Born in Jamestown, New York, Peterson’s fascination with birds began at the age of 11 when he joined a Junior Audubon Club (see John James Audubon). He completed his first bird painting—a blue jay—in the seventh grade, and spent much of his time thereafter watching and reading about birds. After graduating from high school, Peterson studied at the Art Students League and then the National Academy of Design in New York. During the early 1930s, Peterson taught at a school for boys in Brookline, Massachusetts.

In the 1930s, bird field guides were cluttered with detail and difficult to use. In 1934, Peterson published A Field Guide to the Birds. This pocket-sized book focused on birds found in the eastern United States and contained Peterson’s simple, clear paintings of birds, with small arrows highlighting distinguishing features. He wrote accurate descriptions of birds that enabled even amateur bird-watchers to identify species easily. Believing that there was no market for such a work, four publishers rejected the book. One publishing house finally agreed to a small printing of 2000 copies and this first printing sold out within a week. Since then, revised and updated editions of A Field Guide to the Birds and a companion volume covering birds in the western U.S. have sold more than seven million copies.

The popularity of Peterson’s first field guide attracted Audubon Magazine, which hired him in 1934 as educational director and art editor. During World War II (1939-1945), he prepared technical manuals on defusing land mines for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1953 Peterson and British naturalist James M.C. Fisher embarked on a 160,900 km (100,000 mi) field trip around North America during which the pair recorded 572 species of birds in the U.S. and another 65 in Mexico. Peterson and Fisher co-authored Wild America (1955), describing their experiences.

In addition to guides describing the birds of North America, Europe, and other regions, Peterson produced fieldguides on butterflies, mammals, wildflowers, trees, shells, and rocks and minerals. Beginning in the early 1970s, he also devoted more time to painting birds. Unlike the schematic drawings that appeared in his earlier field books, these paintings were more detailed and realistic. In 1986, he founded the Roger Tory Peterson Institute for the Study of Natural History in Jamestown, New York.

Peterson received the Conservation Medal of the National Audubon Society (1969), the Presidential Medal of Freedom from United States President Jimmy Carter (1980), and the Linnaus Gold Medal of the Swedish Academy of Science (1986).