Olin Sewall Pettingill Jr. (October 30, 1907 – December 11, 2001) was an American naturalist, author and filmmaker, president of the Wilson Ornithological Society from 1948 to 1950,"Past Presidents of the WOS". Wilson Ornithological Society. Accessed 2010-05-12. a member of the board of directors of the National Audubon Society from 1955 to 1974, and a Life Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Early life Born October 30, 1907, in Belgrade, Maine, Pettingill attended Bowdoin College, where he developed an interest in ornithology. Studying under zoologist Alfred O. Gross, Pettingill conducted studies of the last three heath hens on Martha's Vineyard in 1927 with Gross and Thornton Burgess.
In 1928, Pettingill enrolled in the University of Michigan, then attended graduate school at Cornell University starting in 1930 – joining the AOU in the same year – where he conducted a PhD dissertation on the American woodcock.
Career Appointed a delegate to the 12th and 14th International Ornithological Congresses, Pettingill was appointed Director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in 1960, a position he held until his retirement in 1973, and provided footage for four Walt Disney nature films, including the Academy Award-winning The Vanishing Prairie, in addition to making several ornithological films of his own, including works on albatrosses, penguins, and the wildlife of island nations, which often aired as part of Audubon Screen Tours."Historical Highlights: The Heroes". Audubon Centinnial: 100 Years of Conservation. National Audubon Society. Accessed 13 May 2010.
Tenured at Carleton College for 17 years, Pettingill taught at the University of Michigan Biological Station for 35 years. Pettingill was awarded birding's highest honor, the Ludlow Griscom Award, in 1982, and also received Cornell's Arthur A. Allen Medal in 1974, and the Eisenmann Medal in 1985. Holding three honorary doctorates in science, Pettingill appeared on both The Today Show and To Tell the Truth.
Death Pettingill died December 11, 2001, in Bedford, Texas, aged 94.
Works Books Ornithology in Laboratory and Field, 1939 (2nd edition, 1946; 3rd edition, 1956; 4th edition, 1970; 5th edition, 1985); 2013 pbk reprint of 4th edition A Guide to Finding Birds East of the Mississippi, 1951 A Guide to Finding Birds West of the Mississippi, 1953 Enjoying Maine Birds, 1960 Enjoying Birds in Upstate New York, 1963 Enjoying Birds around New York City, 1966 The Audubon Illustrated handbook of American Birds, editor-in-chief, 1968. The Bird Watcher's America, editor, 1974 Another Penguin Summer, 1975 My Way to Ornithology, 1992 Films Nature's Half Acre, 1951 Water Birds, 1952 The Vanishing Prairie, 1954 Islands of the Sea, 1960
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(On pages 1010–1011 Pettingill gives a list of 25 recommended books.)