Roger Tory Peterson
(1908-1996)

America's preeminent naturalist of the 20th century,
"Inventor of the modern field guide"
1971 Audubon Medal
1980 Presidential Medal of Freedom
1987 National Conservation Achievement Award

birthdate: August 28
birthplace: Jamestown , New York

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QUOTES

The philosophy that I have worked under most of my life is that the serious study of natural history is an activity which has far-reaching effects in every aspect of a person’s life. It ultimately makes people protective of the environment in a very committed way. It is my opinion that the study of natural history should be the primary avenue for creating environmentalists,

I consider myself to have been the bridge between the shotgun and the binoculars in bird watching. Before I came along, the primary way to observe birds was to shoot them and stuff them.

Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble.

Not all is doom and gloom. We are beginning to understand the natural world and are gaining a reverence for life - all life.

“The humane person, the civilized person, readily accepts not only the humane ethic, as we think of it, but also the conservationist’s philosophy, as well as the environmentalists’s point of view. They are overlapping and interlocking. All are essential to a better and more civilized world—a reverence for life.”