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Bird Man
When people hear the name ‘Audubon’, they think of birds. That is because a man named John James Audubon was a famous American ornithologist. Ornithologists study birds. But Audubon did not just study birds; he also drew and painted them. He created a stunning collection of life-sized pictures of American birds in the 1800s. His work brought attention to many unknown bird species.
Even as a child, Audubon loved birds. He started drawing them when he was growing up in the French countryside. He continued his hobby when he moved to America in 1803. At his home in the American state of Pennsylvania, he was the first to ‘band’ birds. He tied strings to the legs of a pair of nesting birds to see if the same pair would return in the spring. They did! Today, bird banding is how scientists track and study migratory birds.
When Audubon moved to the western frontier of the US, he drew and painted the amazing bird species he found there, too. However, it was still just a hobby. But when hard times hit in 1819, Audubon started giving art lessons to earn money. He was also paid to create nature exhibits for a museum. Encouraged by others, he formed a plan to document America’s birdlife. He wanted to create a great work of science and art.
Audubon succeeded in his goal, but it did not happen quickly. It took him five years to complete the first few hundred paintings. Then, he toured Europe, exhibiting his paintings and selling subscriptions for prints of them. Many people signed up for the prints he was making. They paid to have sets of five large prints sent to them as each set was completed. People had to wait a long time for all of their prints to arrive. It took ten years in total to complete the entire collection of 435 paintings. The complete work is called Birds of America.
Audubon’s work is considered an American masterpiece. His paintings are exhibited in museums around the world. Complete sets of his prints are worth a great deal of money. But the true value of Audubon’s work is how it helped people understand and treasure America’s birds. The National Audubon Society, created in the US in 1886, still works to conserve and protect America’s birds in his name.