John Kenneth Terres (December 17, 1905 – December 8, 2006), was an American naturalist and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. He is best known for his popular works on North American birds. He authored more than fifty works, usually writing as John K. Terres. He was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania and spent his early years in

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. He was educated at State Teachers College (Indiana, Pennsylvania),

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and

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. In 1986, he received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

. He received the

John Burroughs Medal The John Burroughs Medal, named for nature writer John Burroughs (1837–1921), is awarded each year in April by the John Burroughs Association to the author of a book that the association has judged to be distinguished in the field of natural hist ...

(1971) for ''From Laurel Hill to Siler's Bog'', which detailed his explorations of Mason Farm Biological Reserve, part of the

North Carolina Botanical Garden The North Carolina Botanical Garden (about , plus of nature preserves) is a botanical garden operated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The primary goal of the Garden is to research, catalog, a ...

. Terres served as Editor of ''

Audubon Magazine ''Audubon'' is the flagship journal of the National Audubon Society. It is profusely illustrated and focuses on subjects related to nature, with a special emphasis on birds. New issues are published bi-monthly for society members. An active blo ...

'' for twelve years (1948-1960). He died shortly before his 101st birthday in 2006.

Selected works

* John K. Terres (1953). ''Songbirds in Your Garden''. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. * John K. Terres (1960). ''The Wonders I See''. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Lippincott. * John K. Terres (1969). ''From Laurel Hill to Siler's Bog: The Walking Adventures of a Naturalist'' Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. (or ) * John K. Terres (1980). ''The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds''. New York: Knopf. . He was a contributing editor of ''Birder's World'' magazine, culminating with an article about American Crow behavior observations of his own, plus his own watercolors of crows performing the behaviors in the text. He died with the wish of revising his 1980 ''Audubon Encyclopedia of North American Birds'', about which Roger Tory Peterson said never left his desk side. Birder's World published, before the crow article, a story about him, with a photograph of him at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill biological station, with much concentration examining a specimen.

References

External links

John K. Terres Papers
��accessed 13 March 2007 * Mark D. Kutner, Resident Spotlight on Dr. John Terres. ''Times To Remember'' volume 4, issue 4 (August 2005). Mamaroneck, New York: Sarah Neuman Center for Healthcare and Rehabilitation.
PDF
��accessed 14 March 2007) * ''North Carolina Botanical Garden Newsletter'' volume 35 number 2 (March–April 2007). Chapel Hill, North Carolina:

, page 1. For many years, Terres was a contributing Editor of Birders World. {{DEFAULTSORT:Terres, Kenneth John 1905 births 2006 deaths American ornithologists American naturalists John Burroughs Medal recipients American centenarians Men centenarians Writers from Philadelphia Writers from New Jersey Indiana University of Pennsylvania alumni American nature writers American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American zoologists 20th-century naturalists