Obtain All Things Reconsidered: My Birding Adventures Conceived By Roger Tory Peterson Version

think I only liked this because I like birds, Most people probably wouldnt be into it, There was a time, up until the earlyth century, when the orthodoxy was that bird identification should be done "bird in hand".
This was a way of saying, "shoot it, and pick up the corpse and study it carefully".
Roger Tory Peterson was among that generation of bird enthusiasts who rejected this method although look closely at the cover picture for an entertaining spin on this saying.
He was also one of the first generation of bird enthusiasts to become photography enthusiasts, despite or perhaps because of his profession as a painter of birds for field guides.
This series of essays, originally writen for a periodical named "Bird Watcher's Digest", was from later in his life, when he had a half century or more of knowledge and memories to draw on.


Oddly, this is not really a book about birds, in particular, It is a book about birdwatchers, Whether telling of his efforts to get the perfect shot of one species or another, or of how he learned from the generation of painters who came before him, or of his many friends and colleagues who helped to create the postWWconservationist movement with film, tours, and books telling a newly urbanized society why they should care about nature still, he is mostly writing about humans here.
Humans who are in closer than usual proximity to birds, for sure, and there are a few dozen color prints of his masterful paintings or photographs of birds scattered through the book.
But the real theme through all of these essays is other people,

I admit to being more interested in the birds than the people, myself, but the interesting thing is that the audience for his essays was, presumably, a lot of people who were interested in birds as well, and more knowledgeable about it than I am.
But, one wonders if perhaps, as with dogs and cats and horses and so forth, the type of animal is in part an excuse to bond with other people over a common interest.
Humans are a sociable lot, Having just finished Robert Putnam's "Bowling Alone", however, I am reminded that the generation which Peterson came from was by historical standards a remarkably social one, prone to extraordinary levels of "clubbishness", that is joining of clubs and voluntary associations such as the Audobon Society.


My own dad was for a time president of the local chapter of the Audobon society.
I was very small at the time, and understood it to mean that he was President of the United States, and then to think

that he was president of the entire Audobon Society, which would have been rather more work.
Mostly, as I dimly recall it, being president of the local chapter involved talking to a lot of other people, and occasionally going on birding expeditions with them.
Peterson mentions several years in which he is involved in attempts as a group to see as many species of bird in onehour period as possible, which involved getting up early, driving around a lot, and a bunch of careful planning.
I admit, I don't quite see the appeal, but it was entertaining enough to hear Peterson tell stories about it.
The entire book, really, is much like sitting next to an old man who is telling tales of his youth, and you either enjoy that sort of thing or you don't I mostly do.


In fact, it is probably the case that, if you are going to get humans to care overmuch about protecting bird species from DDT, vanishing wetlands, and the like, you will need more than to appeal to their concern over abstractions like ecosystems.
If they also have a gutlevel response of "that area where I go on fun birding expeditions with my friends every year", they are more likely to do what they can to see that it is preserved.
As our species becomes evermoreurbanized and remote from the wilderness, it will be a challenge for current and future generations to find a way to convince themselves to care, and I expect that will require different techniques each generation.
Peterson's use of binoculars and camera instead of shotguns was quite a change from what came before.
Hopefully we will produce an equivalent person, with the right combination of concern for wildlife and savvy PR instincts, in the generations to come.
The world's most famous bird watcher recounts his travels in pursuit of birds,
A decade after the death of Roger Tory Peterson, his unique perspective on birding comes to life in these highly personal narratives.
Here he relates his adventures during a lifetime of traveling the world to observe and record nature.
Peterson's sense of adventure and curiousity could not be extinguished, While in his eighties, as one essay relates, his boat capsized in freezing water off the coast of Maine as he was filming a documentary.
In another essay we watch his tiny rowboat get caught in an angry sea off the coast of Argentina.
Then there is what Peterson called his most exciting bird experience: searching for the Ivorybilled Woodpecker,
Though Peterson was widely known for his illustrations, this collection reminds us of his accomplishments as a phtographer, for Peterson was nearly as passionate about photography as he was about painting.
The essays, photographs, and illustrations included here were carefully selected by Bill Thompson III, the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest, which ran Peterson's column, "All Things Reconsidered," during the last twelve years of his life.
Interesting read about Roger's birding adventures, his life, and the development of birding from the Audubon's days until now.
Roger Tory Petersonstood very tall as a naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator, Perhaps he is best known for his field guides, This is a book collecting a number of his essays, and it represents him very wellit is Peterson at his finest.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and would heartily recommend it to anyone who has a passion for nature in general and especially birding in particular.
He gives pretty compelling glimpses into his thinking, his experiences, and his artistic inclinations, The advanced birder, Kenn Kaufman, once noted "Roger Tory Peterson was not really the originator of the system of arrows for identification.
Thousands of years ago, long before the pharaohs, ancient men drew animals on cave walls with arrows sticking into them.
" True, perhaps. However Peterson perfected his drawing techniques as an aid to field identification this during a period of "revolution in birding.
. . as birders shifted from the shotgun school of birding to the field glass, " But Peterson was much more than field guide illustrator, This book is a compilation of selected columns from "Bird Watcher's Digest" written during the last twelve years of his life.
They record Peterson's interest in wildlife photography, natural history writings, wilderness protection, and friendships with many of the greatth century naturalists Lars Jonsson, Edwin Way Teale, Guy Mountfort, Sir Peter Scott, Luis Baptista, etc.
. What most shines forth in this book, besides Peterson's love of nature, is his warm wit and pioneering spirit one that is sorely missed since his death in.
.