Penguins, Emperor and Others

Penguins were among Peterson's favorite bird families to paint and to photograph. Peterson himself--whose nickname among his birding friends was "King Penguin"--took seventeen trips to Antarctica starting in 1957, and was instrumental in documenting the continent's indigenous birds, as well as the encroaching pollution that threatened their natural environment. He once noted, "Birds are far more than cardinals and orioles to brighten the garden. They are indicators of the environment--a sort of ecological litmus."