Olin Sewall Pettingill Jr. [ a] (October 30, 1907 – December 11, 2001) was an American naturalist, author and filmmaker, president of the Wilson Ornithological Society from 1948 to 1950,[ 2] a member of the board of directors of the National Audubon Society from 1955 to 1974,[ 1] and a Life Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union.[ 1]
Born October 30, 1907, in Belgrade, Maine, Pettingill attended Bowdoin College, where he developed an interest in ornithology.[ 1] 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.[ 1]
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.[ 1]
Appointed a delegate to the 12th and 14th International Ornithological Congresses,[ 1] Pettingill was appointed Director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in 1960, a position he held until his retirement in 1973,[ 1] and provided footage for four Walt Disney nature films, including the Academy Award-winning The Vanishing Prairie,[ 1] 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.[ 3]
Tenured at Carleton College for 17 years,[ 1] Pettingill taught at the University of Michigan Biological Station for 35 years.[ 1] Pettingill was awarded birding's highest honor, the Ludlow Griscom Award, in 1982,[ 1] and also received Cornell's Arthur A. Allen Medal in 1974, and the Eisenmann Medal in 1985.[ 1] Holding three honorary doctorates in science,[ 1] Pettingill appeared on both The Today Show and To Tell the Truth.[ 1]
Pettingill died December 11, 2001, in Bedford, Texas, aged 94.[ 1]