Edmund J. (Edmund Joseph) Sawyer

Edmund J. Sawyer was an American wildlife artist and naturalist whose life was closely tied to birds, field observation, and public nature education. Records for his published work identify him as Edmund J. (Edmund Joseph) Sawyer, 1880–1971, and later references remembered him as an important figure in American bird art.

He wrote and illustrated Land Birds of Northern New York in 1916, and his bird art also appeared in Bird-Lore. He is especially associated with Frank M. Chapman's What Bird Is That?, for which Sawyer supplied the color bird figures that helped make the guide useful to everyday bird students.

Sawyer also worked as Yellowstone's park naturalist in 1924, where he is credited with starting the publication Yellowstone Nature Notes in its established form. Taken together, his books, illustrations, and natural history work show someone who cared deeply about helping ordinary readers notice and identify the living world around them.