He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and spent his early years in New Jersey.
He received the John Burroughs Medal (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.
Terres served as Editor of Audubon Magazine for twelve years (1948-1960).
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.