The black-billed cuckoo is common in the northern United States, but seldom seen in the South. Audubon, while living in Louisiana, therefore thought it as a rare and special treat to see a black-billed cuckoo, so he posed these specimens on a magnolia branch.
The black-billed cuckoo is similar to its yellow-billed cousin, but while the species are often conflated, they are strikingly different in diet and habitat. While the yellow-billed cuckoo feeds on insects and fruit, the black-billed cuckoo primarily eats shellfish and other aquatic larvae, so it is more often seen on the ground near the water. In this print, one of the cuckoos reaches downwards towards a small insect, mirroring his observations of the birds doing the same on branches above water, diving to catch aquatic bugs.
With a large and distinct appearance, the brown pelican is one of the most recognizable American birds. They have huge beaks with expandable pouches that they use to catch fish, which they dive for from up to 60 feet above ocean waters.
Canvas-backs are a large species of diving duck that migrates seasonally from the south Atlantic coast, where it spends its winters, to the northwestern United States and even as far up as Canada from spring to fall.
In Audubon’s time, the canvas-back duck was incredibly common and often hunted, made easier to shoot because they travel in large packs. In his notes is mentioned the duck’s unique “disposition to examine rarities,” which hunters would also make use of; at hearing an unidentified sound or distinct color, they would consistently take off in flight towards the source of the mystery.
This print depicts a group of canvas-backs in front of a port in Baltimore, Maryland. The male on the left reaches towards some wild celery, which is an aquatic plant known to be a favorite of the species. In fact, the specific name of the canvass-back duck, aythya valisinera, is named after the plant: valisnera americana is the specific name of wild celery.
"Different species of snakes ascend to their nests, and generally suck the eggs or swallow the young; but on all such occasions, not only the pair to which the nest belongs, but many other Mocking-birds from the vicinity, fly to the spot, attack the reptiles, and, in some cases, are so fortunate as either to force them to retreat, or deprive them of life." - Audubon Field Notes
The Golden Eagle is a bird with a great eye and incredible hunting skills. Rare visitors to the eastern United States, where Audubon was bird-hunting, these birds generally make their permanent residence on the west coast. It makes sense, then that Audubon remarks on their rarity in his field notes.
The Red-Breasted Merganser is a species of diving duck. Commonly seen on saltwater coasts, this bird spends most of its day diving for fish and other marine snacks; in his field notes, Audubon describes the bird as "gluttonous to the extreme."
The Whooping Crane is a large, beautiful bird, possessing skilled vision and hearing, as well as powerful flight.
Audubon actually owned one of these birds and observed its behavior in captivity. It had a damaged wing, seemingly unable to live on its own.
Human settlement in the States has caused the endangerment of this once relatively common bird. They were once at the precipice of extinction, but conservation efforts have done much to improve their population.
The Yellow-Crowned Night Heron is an elusive but relatively common bird. The herons live year-round on the Florida coast but having a much more expansive range in summer, where they can be seen inland throughout the southwestern U.S.
Uncommon to the States― found in and around coastal Texas or wet Florida prairies―Caracara Eagle, typically called the Crested Caracara, was a special find for Audubon.
Owing to its hunting habits, flying over open plains, the Caracara Eagle is depicted here in the sky, without a background.
Called the White-Headed Sea Eagle owing to its feeding habits, this bird is most commonly known as the Bald Eagle. Like most eagles, it is both a powerful hunter and a dedicated scavenger; in general, it feeds on fish. Distinct for its white head, this North American native can be found throughout the continent.
The Bird of Washington is one of the more interesting pieces of Audubon's work, and this is partially because, as it turns out, this is not a real species of bird. The birds that Audubon called birds of Washington were really just immature bald eagles.
There's more to it than that, though. Audubon almost certainly plagiarized the piece: it is suspiciously similar to drawings of the golden eagle that had been published in 1802, decades before "Birds of America" was published.
Hand-painted in the first octavo, or miniature edition of "Birds of America," this print depicts two black-throated guillemots.
The name black-throated guillemot is not used outside "Birds of America;" in more recently published editions of the text, the birds are identified actually as two distinct species: the 'adult' being the ancient murrelet, and the 'young' being the marbled murrelet.
The same drawings appear in the original, alongside drawings of several other birds, named by Audubon the nobbed-billed auk, curled-crested auk, and horned-billed guillemot.
From the octavo edition of "Birds of Ameria," this is a depiction of the horn-billed guillemot.
This species is now commonly called the rhinocerous auklet.
This depiction of the horned-billed guillemot, in the original "Birds of America," would have appeared alongside the black-throated guillemot of the previous plate.
The black-billed cuckoo is common in the northern United States, but seldom seen in the South. Audubon, while living in Louisiana, therefore thought it as a rare and special treat to see a black-billed cuckoo, so he posed these specimens on a magnolia branch.
The black-billed cuckoo is similar to its yellow-billed cousin, but while the species are often conflated, they are strikingly different in diet and habitat. While the yellow-billed cuckoo feeds on insects and fruit, the black-billed cuckoo primarily eats shellfish and other aquatic larvae, so it is more often seen on the ground near the water. In this print, one of the cuckoos reaches downwards towards a small insect, mirroring his observations of the birds doing the same on branches above water, diving to catch aquatic bugs.
With a large and distinct appearance, the brown pelican is one of the most recognizable American birds. They have huge beaks with expandable pouches that they use to catch fish, which they dive for from up to 60 feet above ocean waters.
Canvas-backs are a large species of diving duck that migrates seasonally from the south Atlantic coast, where it spends its winters, to the northwestern United States and even as far up as Canada from spring to fall.
In Audubon’s time, the canvas-back duck was incredibly common and often hunted, made easier to shoot because they travel in large packs. In his notes is mentioned the duck’s unique “disposition to examine rarities,” which hunters would also make use of; at hearing an unidentified sound or distinct color, they would consistently take off in flight towards the source of the mystery.
This print depicts a group of canvas-backs in front of a port in Baltimore, Maryland. The male on the left reaches towards some wild celery, which is an aquatic plant known to be a favorite of the species. In fact, the specific name of the canvass-back duck, aythya valisinera, is named after the plant: valisnera americana is the specific name of wild celery.
"Different species of snakes ascend to their nests, and generally suck the eggs or swallow the young; but on all such occasions, not only the pair to which the nest belongs, but many other Mocking-birds from the vicinity, fly to the spot, attack the reptiles, and, in some cases, are so fortunate as either to force them to retreat, or deprive them of life." - Audubon Field Notes
The Golden Eagle is a bird with a great eye and incredible hunting skills. Rare visitors to the eastern United States, where Audubon was bird-hunting, these birds generally make their permanent residence on the west coast. It makes sense, then that Audubon remarks on their rarity in his field notes.
The Red-Breasted Merganser is a species of diving duck. Commonly seen on saltwater coasts, this bird spends most of its day diving for fish and other marine snacks; in his field notes, Audubon describes the bird as "gluttonous to the extreme."
The Whooping Crane is a large, beautiful bird, possessing skilled vision and hearing, as well as powerful flight.
Audubon actually owned one of these birds and observed its behavior in captivity. It had a damaged wing, seemingly unable to live on its own.
Human settlement in the States has caused the endangerment of this once relatively common bird. They were once at the precipice of extinction, but conservation efforts have done much to improve their population.
The Yellow-Crowned Night Heron is an elusive but relatively common bird. The herons live year-round on the Florida coast but having a much more expansive range in summer, where they can be seen inland throughout the southwestern U.S.
Uncommon to the States― found in and around coastal Texas or wet Florida prairies―Caracara Eagle, typically called the Crested Caracara, was a special find for Audubon.
Owing to its hunting habits, flying over open plains, the Caracara Eagle is depicted here in the sky, without a background.
Called the White-Headed Sea Eagle owing to its feeding habits, this bird is most commonly known as the Bald Eagle. Like most eagles, it is both a powerful hunter and a dedicated scavenger; in general, it feeds on fish. Distinct for its white head, this North American native can be found throughout the continent.
The Bird of Washington is one of the more interesting pieces of Audubon's work, and this is partially because, as it turns out, this is not a real species of bird. The birds that Audubon called birds of Washington were really just immature bald eagles.
There's more to it than that, though. Audubon almost certainly plagiarized the piece: it is suspiciously similar to drawings of the golden eagle that had been published in 1802, decades before "Birds of America" was published.
Hand-painted in the first octavo, or miniature edition of "Birds of America," this print depicts two black-throated guillemots.
The name black-throated guillemot is not used outside "Birds of America;" in more recently published editions of the text, the birds are identified actually as two distinct species: the 'adult' being the ancient murrelet, and the 'young' being the marbled murrelet.
The same drawings appear in the original, alongside drawings of several other birds, named by Audubon the nobbed-billed auk, curled-crested auk, and horned-billed guillemot.
From the octavo edition of "Birds of Ameria," this is a depiction of the horn-billed guillemot.
This species is now commonly called the rhinocerous auklet.
This depiction of the horned-billed guillemot, in the original "Birds of America," would have appeared alongside the black-throated guillemot of the previous plate.
John James (JJ) Audubon was a French-American artist and naturalist, most known for his work in ornithology, published in various editions of “Birds of America.”
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katharine
(@katharine)
Jan 24 2024
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The flower depicted is the yellow water-lily.
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katharine
(@katharine)
Mar 20 2024
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His process involved gathering and posing specimens in lifelike positions. One can imagine how in this particular piece, the cuckoos were each posed on a cut magnolia branch with string and wire, then the details of their feathers were meticulously copied. His thorough process made evident by the accuracy of his work.
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katharine
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Mar 20 2024
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The art of John James Audubon was highly influential, in Britain and in the United States, and not just because of its beauty. His works were accompanied with field notes, featuring observations made by him and his contemporaries. In his notes, extensive research is made evident: this is also evident in the anatomical accuracy of his drawings.
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katharine
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Mar 20 2024
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His artwork (and field notes) display an intense affection for birds. In his notes on the Canada goose, he writes of a "battle" he witnesses: “Exhausted, abashed, and mortified, the presumptuous intruder retreats in disgrace;--there he lies, almost breathless, on the sand! Such are the conflicts of these ardent lovers…” He describes the actions of these birds with both humor and tenderness.
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katharine
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Jan 25 2024
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A rattlesnake! Audubon observes in his field notes how all mockingbirds in the vicinity will fend off a snake attacking a nest.
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katharine
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Despite their commitment to real-life accuracy, Audubon’s compositions are sometimes bordering on fantastical. In his depiction of the northern mockingbird, Audubon places three birds in action, defending their nest from an invading rattlesnake. The poses of the figures are distinct and striking, including the flowers that adorn the nest. This is an event, though, he has actually observed, according to his field notes. He depicts the real world of birds, but does so with an artistic flair.
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katharine
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Jan 24 2024
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These birds have a cry that is "harsh and sharp, resembling at times the barking of a dog," according to Audubon's field notes.
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katharine
(@katharine)
Jan 24 2024
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The eagle holds a hare in its claws.
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katharine
(@katharine)
Mar 24 2024
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An eagle specimen was also procured, as was the case for the vast majority of his paintings. Because of his intense process, the anatomy of his birds is incredibly accurate to life.
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katharine
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Apr 03 2024
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His backgrounds often depict a given bird in its natural setting, typically including details of their habitat. But sometimes, Audubon will draw cities the birds are common to. In this print of the long-billed curlew, he includes a view of Charleston.
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katharine
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Feb 13 2024
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The female duck has a similar crest to the male, but is depicted here in flight.
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tomadmin
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Aug 06 2023
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What is this little thing?
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katharine
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Mar 24 2024
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He has documented his vast number of experiences with birds with great care; there's more than one interesting anecdote in his notes. Audubon recounts his domestication of a particular hooping crane(he uses the name whooping crane) that was unable to fly; according to him, it became incredibly gentle, “...so gentle as to suffer me to caress it with the hand.”
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tomadmin
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I had no idea that a Bald Eagle was also known as a “White-headed Sea Eagle”!
“The bald eagle is native to our continent and is one of the largest birds in North America. The Latin name “Haliaeetus leucocephalus” means “white-headed sea eagle”, referencing its genus classification. The word “bald” refers to an old English use of the word meaning “white” since the head is distinctly feathered.”
Martins are territorial, nesting birds; here they appear to be making a home in the shell of a calabash fruit.
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Here named the "Black-throated Guillemot," the species is generally called the ancient murrelet.
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katharine
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Jan 11 2024
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Though mistakenly identified as a young ancient murrelet, this bird is actually a marbled murrelet.
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katharine
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Jan 11 2024
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Similar to the black-throated guillemot, the usage of the name horn-billed guillemot is mainly associated with Audubon and prints of his work.
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katharine
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This rendering of the horn-billed guillemot closely resembles the rhinoceros auklet, also named for its characteristic horn.
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katharine
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Audubon’s work blended his careful anatomical observation with his strong aesthetic sensibilities. Being accompanied by his notes, “Birds of America” was both a book of art and a scientific text, and its mass appeal helped raise awareness for issues birds themselves were facing. Interest in birds merely as aesthetic objects led to more familiarity and then more concern over issues such as over-hunting or habitat loss. The Audubon society is a non-profit organization dedicated to wildlife conservation in general, but especially focuses on birds, and is named after Audubon. Though he did not advocate for conservation work in his lifetime, his work inspired care and attention for the birds of America.
April 2024 - From the collection of Rich Breiman. (shot 2023-07-29)
John James "JJ" Audubon was a French-American artist and naturalist, most known for his work in ornithology, published in various editions of “Birds of America.” Born in Haiti, raised in France, Audubon spent his childhood fascinated with birds, and once he headed to the states at 18, his interests only grew. His father had given him an estate in Pennsylvania, where he began a series of drawings of American birds: he would observe the birds’ habitat and behavior, then would shoot and hang it and draw it as close to life as possible. He was never too concerned with making money, remarking in his diary: “birds were birds then as now, and my thoughts were ever and anon thinking toward them as the objects of my greatest delight. I shot, I drew, I looked on nature only; my days were happy beyond human conception, and beyond this I really cared not.” He abandoned or failed at most business ventures; he and his wife spent their young adulthood in poverty, and Audubon even spent some time in debtor prison. He began to spend months at a time in the woods, hunting, drawing, and writing biographies. With a large collection, but just a fraction of what he would come to produce, Audubon sailed to England in search of a friendlier market for his work. His American bird series sold well, and he was able to find a printer for his work in London, as well as a collaborator in William MacGillivray, an ornithologist who assisted him in the descriptions of each bird. Audubon’s work was becoming pretty popular, but the huge folios he was producing were not accessible to everyone. The octavo edition, which is a smaller edition that was meant to be more accessible, was produced in Philadelphia beginning in 1840. Most of the prints in this collection are from the first two editions of the octavo “Birds of America.”
In his work, Audubon made use of his extensive research, and of his from-life models. The majority of his images are exactly true to life, with every feather and limb being placed meticulously. To recount his process, he would use wire to pose the birds in positions that would have been the most natural in the wild, while also considering what parts of the bird should be visible to the viewer. There is an obvious compositional effort in the pieces, as well: no bird is alone on the canvas, and while some are more intricate than others, Audubon does his best to place each bird within a fitting habitat. Whether these scenes are real or imagined is indeterminate―it’s probably a bit of both.
Audubon’s legacy is fairly complicated for a number of reasons. While he was not the first to do what he did, not even in America, he was the most influential by far. Often praised in his life for his artistic ability, Audubon’s works were beautiful and lifelike. He was respected enough as an ornithologist and natural historian that the Audubon Society, a non-profit that works towards the conservation and habitat preservation of endangered birds, was named after him. But there are also rumors of fraud and theft, for example, that he drew imaginary birds. It's true that there are some birds that he drew that are unidentified, some think that he drew hybrids or was forced to draw in some cases from memory, and some think this was more intentional. There is a controversy regarding his plate of the Bird of Washington, for example, which Audubon claimed to be a new species closely related to the bald eagle, but seems to be just a youngling of that species. This is a fascinating read, and it is linked below. He also in his field notes describes the taste of many of the species he records. In his hunting, it seems, he also killed many more birds than were necessary just for survival and for drawing. Most important to mention was his lifetime of opposition to the abolition movement. He produced writings against emancipation, and he himself bought enslaved people for his estate when he still owned it, and for his expeditions before setting off to England. Despite the importance of his art, and the good that has come from his legacy, it is important to recognize that the man behind them was imperfect, to say the least.
