Erich Rutschke

Erich Rutschke (26 May 1926 – 12 February 1999) was a German ornithologist and conservationist who specialized in wetland birds and their biology. Rutschke was responsible for making East Germany a signatory of the Ramsar Convention.

Rutschke was born in Neu-Golm, Bad Saarow in Germany. During the war he served as a paratrooper and was wounded. He became a teacher in 1946. He was interested in birds from childhood but took an interest in ornithology as a career after meeting Erwin Stresemann. He received a PhD for his work on water resistance in plumage in 1958 which included studies on the feathers of penguins.