In Praise of Peterson

By Pete Dunne

Roger Tory Peterson (1908-96) is the once and forever "grand master" of North American birding. Author, illustrator, teacher, and naturalist, he ushered in a new age of bird study with the publication of his first field guide in 1934, A Field Guide to the Birds. The first two thousand copies sold out within three weeks. Now in its fifth edition, the Peterson field guide and its western companion volume have sold over ten million copies.
Peterson never claimed proprietary rights to the breakthrough that made his Field Guide to the Birds so useful. In his first edition, he acknowledges the catalytic influence of Ernest Thompson Seton's Two Little Savages and the "pattern charts" drawn by Seton (attributed to one of the book's characters) that depict ducks seen from a distance. The illustrations show the bold plumage patterns that distinguish them - what Seton called "uniforms" and birders today call field marks.
What Roger Peterson did was to take the field mark approach pioneered by Seton and apply it to all eastern birds, codifying in his depictions and text the marks that distinguish one species from another. Peterson did not discover all of the field marks described in his book. There were a number of other eager minds trying to solve the riddle of bird identification during the first decades of the twentieth century - among them Peterson's fellow members of the Bronx Bird Club. What Peterson brought to the table was a winning blend of artistic talent, communication skill, a cutting-edge understanding of his subject, and a utilitarian vision of a purpose that to this day others have merely refined (and in some cases obscured).
When experienced birders recommend a field guide, they most often suggest the one that they themselves started with - because that is the one with which they are most familiar, and the one whose process they have wittingly or unwittingly made their own. I did not start with Peterson's, but I wish I had. Through my experience with beginning birders, and through my efforts to increase my own identification skills, I have come to appreciate the utilitarian ease of a Peterson field guide.
There are several reasons why this guide serves beginning birders well. First, the text is simple and friendly, written with the beginning birder in mind. Second, the illustrations are very thoughtfully laid out to make comparisons with similar species easy. Third, the text and the illustrations were crafted by a single mind, so there is perfect accord between what the author wanted to say and what the illustrator wanted to depict. Most of the popular guides are committee efforts.
The needs of the birding community, like its skill levels, are vast. No guide can hope to do it all or satisfy everyone. But for most people, for my money, the guides that serve the beginning birder (even the intermediate birder) best are the eastern and western Peterson field guides. Roger Peterson grew up and learned his skills in the formative years of birding. His skills advanced as birding advanced, but his grounding is very much in the age where seeing a bird close and well was the challenge. It's the very same challenge that beginning birders face today.
The books, like the man who crafted them, are mated to that fundamental challenge in simple, sympathetic accord. Users don't have to understand why these guides work so well, but like the millions of users before them, they cannot help but appreciate them.

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--- Excerpted from Pete Dunne on Birdwatching, The How-to, Where-to, and When-to of Birding (Houghton Mifflin).

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