Fifteen years ago this summer, Roger Tory Peterson (1908-1996), the dean of American ornithological art, passed from the scene.

Peterson, naturalist, artist, author and venerable conservationists, was best known as the bird man from Jamestown.  Although his name is most synonymous with avifauna, his simple idea, of devising a field guide that make it easier to identify birds in millions of backyards and local parks, became a template for wildlife watching books everywhere.  At Wildlife Art Journal magazine, enjoy this look at Peterson's life produced by Houghton Mifflin, publisher of the Peterson guide book series.