ABOUT BIRDWATCHER
Click
on this
link to hear author Elizabeth J. Rosenthal talk about the book on
Birdwatch Radio with Steve Moore.
And click
here for the author’s interview with Dr. Scott Shalaway on WMNY
radio in Pittsburgh.
Click
here
for the author’s interview with Mark Lynch, host of Inquiry on 90.5
WICN, a Massachusetts public radio station.
WHY BIRDWATCHER? WHY NOW?
Roger
Tory Peterson was a giant of his time whose legacy is, as his son Lee
once said, "all-pervasive." He seemed to have lived several
lifetimes during his nearly 88 years as the originator of the modern field
guide, a masterful and evocative painter, a feverishly persistent and
thorough photographer, a passionate filmmaker, a fluid and fluent author,
a teacher of natural history for all grade and age levels, a life-long
student of natural history, the most resourceful of scientists in his
tireless sharing and synthesizing of information, a wise and dedicated
conservationist from his earliest days, and a mentor and a hero to scores
of people around the world.
Not enough can be said of Peterson's unprecedented legacy-- a legacy that
may never be duplicated-- nor has enough been said.
Tragically, the present age seems dominated by cynics who are working
to roll back the tide of the environmental advances of the 20th century--
preservation of critical habitats, preventing the degradation of natural
resources, and the banning of harmful pesticides and other substances.
Roger Tory Peterson was at the forefront of the conservation generation
and among just a few in the world who could be considered its most effective
spokesperson. We need somebody like him today more than ever, but if that's
not possible we can at least celebrate his legacy. And what better way
to do that than with publication of Birdwatcher: the Life of Roger Tory
Peterson in celebration of both Peterson's Centenary Year of 2008 and
the 75th anniversary of the publication of the first Peterson Guide (2009)?
IN BIRDWATCHER, RE-LIVE PETERSON'S AMAZING LIFE
Roger Tory Peterson
began as a distracted, rebellious son of working class immigrants who,
inspired by a woodpecker sleeping on a tree trunk that "burst to
life" upon being touched, transformed himself into possibly the most
important naturalist/scientist of the last hundred years -despite being
completely self-taught.
As a teenage transplant from snow-belt city Jamestown to New York City,
where he worked his way through art school, he ingratiated himself with
a group of local boys who were similarly entranced by birds. They were
known as the Bronx County Bird Club. This informally constituted club
may have the greatest track record for graduating illustrious members
of any club in recent memory. Many of these boys went on to lives of prominence
in bird study, whether it was through science, conservation activism,
or photography, and influenced and morally supported each other for the
remaining decades of their lives.
Still a mere youngster, Peterson conceptualized and single-handedly authored
and illustrated the first practical, usable field guide to birds in world
history, published to great acclaim in 1934.
Without any formal training as a teacher, he became one of America's premier
teachers - after a few years of intuitively-conducted nature instruction
at a summer camp and at an exclusive private school serving the sons of
Boston Brahmins - when he accepted a job as the Education Director at
the newly re-made National Association of Audubon Societies (soon to be
the National Audubon Society). New Audubon President John Baker, an arch
political conservative in every way except when it came to nature and
birds, admirably respected and nurtured Peterson's talents, and tolerated
his idiosyncrasies.
Through his field guides, Peterson inspired the modern conservation movement.
He managed, throughout his adult life, to variously stand at its cutting
edge, or be its propeller, in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
He thrust himself to the middle of many celebrated causes, such as: the
preservation of the Coto Donana in southwestern Spain, Lake Nakuru
in Kenya and Aldabra off the coast of East Africa; the protection of the
Laysan albatross on Midway Island; and the need for education about the
last pristine place on Earth - Antarctica - which led to his nickname,
King Penguin.
Around the world, Peterson was the most sought-after ornithologist and
conservationist of his time. He was a dedicated participant in numerous
international ornithological and conservation convocations. He struck
up friendships with fellow legends Guy Mountfort, Sir Peter Scott, and
Keith Shackleton, as well as masterminding the 1953 transcontinental trip
with bosom-buddy James Fisher that turned into the classic adventure story,
Wild America. He became a founding and loyal naturalist/lecturer
for nature expedition impresario and great friend, the late, conservation-minded
Lars-Eric Lindblad.
After conducting one of the earliest DDT studies while a sergeant in the
Army Corps of Engineers during the Second World War, Peterson spoke out
against the use of DDT and other pesticides for over two decades until
its eventual banning in the United States. He secretly enabled the organizing
of the most influential congress devoted to the topic, the Peregrine Conference
of 1965. Even before that, he had enlisted young bird enthusiasts, living
and studying near Peterson's home in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and personally
mentored by him, to study the nesting success of DDT-threatened ospreys
in the local marshes.
He accumulated approximately one million photographs that he took while
studying his favorite animals, birds, the world over.
Besides co-authoring Wild America with James Fisher and, later,
also writing The World of Birds with his British friend, Peterson
authored several other bestselling books, such as: the award-winning Birds
Over America, How to Know the Birds, the National Wildlife
Federation-sponsored Wildlife in Color, the Time-Life volume
The Birds, and Penguins. Another work, The Bird Watcher's Anthology,
he meticulously edited and illustrated. Meanwhile, Peterson wrote innumerable
columns and articles, relating his travels and conservation concerns,
for numerous magazines, including Audubon, National Geographic,
National Wildlife, International Wildlife, Nature, and Bird Watcher's
Digest. (A collection of columns from the latter magazine was recently
compiled for the 2007 Peterson volume, All Things Reconsidered.)
Ever generous and supportive of colleagues and up-and-coming naturalist-writers,
he authored well over 100 forewords, introductions, and prefaces to the
books of others.
Peterson may be that rare author whose work has inspired sequels by younger,
admiring writers. In 1986, Canadian naturalist Lyn Hancock published Looking
for the Wild, about the trip she took with fellow environmentalist
Gus Yaki and other bird enthusiasts (with a cameo by Peterson) in commemoration
of the 30th anniversary of the first Wild America trip. In 2006,
Scott Weidensaul published Return to Wild America, in which he
chronicled his re-tracing of Peterson and Fisher's steps across North
America on the first sojourn's 50th anniversary.
From near and afar, through Peterson's prodigious writings, endless lecture
tours, and a variety of field guides, he fashioned generations of new
conservationists, nature students and, in numerous cases, artists. Many
of these people have gone on to lives of fame and accomplishment themselves,
and include prolific writer Pete Dunne; former Delaware Governor Russell
Peterson (no relation); writer/activist Kenn Kaufman; nature tour entrepreneur
Victor Emanuel; backyard birdwatching guru George H. Harrison; lepidopterist
Robert Michael Pyle; field guide authors David Sibley of New England and
Lars Jonsson of Sweden; peregrine falcon expert Tom Cade; artist/activist
Robert Bateman; Fleur Ng'weno, the grand dame of conservation in Kenya;
and sculptor Kent Ullberg. (The celebrated entomologist, thinker, and
author, E. O. Wilson, credits the Peterson field guides with influencing
his major 2003 work on the ant genus Pheidole!)
Peterson was married three times, but it was the intelligent, literate,
endearing, and resourceful Barbara Coulter, his second wife (from 1943
to 1976), who allowed him to "be a genius," as Fleur Ng'weno
put it, through Barbara's unwavering, multi-faceted support both professionally
and personally.
His close friend, Bob Lewin, established one of the earliest wildlife
art publishing houses, Mill Pond Press, recruiting Peterson to be among
the first in a stellar stable of artists and bringing Peterson bird art
to the masses in a respectable way.
Despite collecting nearly two dozen honorary degrees, winning an eye-popping
array of national and international awards for every aspect of his work,
including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and encouraging a myriad
of protégés throughout his life, Peterson constantly fretted
that he didn't write as well as some authors he admired or paint as well
as some of his favorite artists. He remained insecure about his success
to the point where he would revise various field guides again and again
to the exclusion of some other pursuits in which he wanted to delve more,
including "painterly painting" and further book writing. On
the day he died, July 28, 1996, one month shy of his 88th birthday, he
was in the middle of revising his Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern
and Central North America for the fourth time. (The book was published
posthumously in 2002.)