Roger Tory Peterson

Many years ago, a number of us would go out with bird books and travel to places like Point Pelee to see the migrating birds. The book that most of us would carry was the Roger Tory Peterson Field Guide to Birds. There may be other books but this seemed to be the book of choice.

His son Lee Allen Peterson has reissued the 1934 Peterson Field Guide. The book has adapted to technological change and has links to the website petersonfieldguides.com, with podcasts on a number of topics of particular interest to novices.

I love seeing birds, not the act of climbing everywhere to find but seeing and hearing them. The other day, I was sitting in a friend's sun room and a pair of downy woodpeckers were flying around the trees not more than twenty feet away, stopping to peck for food sometimes both of them on opposite sides of the same branch. It was an awesome sight and almost convinced me that I should have a similar sun room so that I can watch the birds all year. Right now the bird that seems to visit my backyard probably in search of the unroasted peanuts that I have been offering the birds is a blue jay or two. I can hear the cardinals and sometimes see them. They have been nesting in our area for many years.

Birding is one small way to connect to nature and I do enjoy it although I am not very good at identifying most birds. Need to get my Peterson's out and use it more often.

(Interesting that the Peterson websites: http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/peterson/rtp/biography.shtml do not include pictures of Roger Tory Peterson, instead pictures of birds.)