a lion in winter

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"To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

-William Blake, "Auguries of Innocence"

"Every wolf's and lion's howl, Raises from hell a human soul," continues Blake. But have we yet heard the howling? Don't be fooled. Winter is still here, at least for a few more weeks. And I say that with a guttural gulp. Remember the late winter blizzard, March 12-13, 1993?

You have to admire any plant that thumbs its nose at the cold weather. The lion's howl. Well plants do not actually have noses nor do they howl, but work with me here. There's not much green out there on my part of the planet and most of what is, grows low to the ground where it's safer. But not this one.
 

That's why I admire the tenacity of Prenanthes alba, (Prenanthes: from prenes for "drooping" and anthe for "blossom" plus alba: Latin for "white." Although it's too early in the season for drooping white flowers.

The plant is also known by the common names white lettuce, rattlesnake root and/or lion's foot. I'm not sure why the latter sobriquet, I've never looked at a lion's foot that closely, but if it had been up to me, I'd called it "Lion's howl."

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Audubon's wild turkey

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my favorite Audubon's:

Wild Turkey

John James Audubon, the naturalist/artist/writer died 161 years ago today. If yesterday's osprey was my favorite Audubon print, we'll end our three week look at his work with probably his favorite. Out of the 435 prints produced—initially by William Lizars in Scotland but the great bulk by Robert Havell, Jr. in London—the wild turkey engraving was the first: Number 1, Plate 1. The print that when anyone saw it, they said, "I got to have more!"  And Audubon obliged.

Audubon also wrote more about America's favorite gamebird than any other species, including how they crossed over great rivers, here's an excerpt:

“The Turkey is irregularly migratory, as well as irregularly gregarious. With reference to the first of these circumstances, I have to state, that whenever the mast of one portion of the country happens greatly to exceed that of another, the Turkeys are insensibly led toward that spot, by gradually meeting in their haunts with more fruit the nearer they advance towards the place where it is most plentiful. In this manner flock follows after flock, until one district is entirely deserted, while another is, as it were, overflowed by them. But as these migrations are irregular, and extend over a vast expanse of country, it is necessary that I should describe the manner in which they take place.

"About the beginning of October, when scarcely any of the seeds and fruits have yet fallen from the trees, these birds assemble in flocks, and gradually move towards the rich bottom lands of the Ohio and Mississippi. The males, or, as they are more commonly called, the gobblers, associate in parties of from ten to a hundred, and search for food apart from the females; while the latter are seen either advancing singly, each with its brood of young, then about two-thirds grown, or in connexion with other families, forming parties often amounting to seventy or eighty individuals, all intent on shunning the old cocks, which, even when the young birds have attained this size, will fight with, and often destroy them by repeated blows on the head. Old and young, however, all move in the same course, and on foot, unless their progress be interrupted by a river, or the hunter's dog force them to take wing. When they come upon a river, they betake themselves to the highest eminences, and there often remain a whole day, or sometimes two, as if for the purpose of consultation. During this time, the males are heard gobbling, calling, and making much ado, and are seen strutting about, as if to raise their courage to a pitch befitting the emergency. Even the females and young assume something of the same pompous demeanour, spread out their tails, and run round each other, purring loudly, and performing extravagant leaps. 

"At length, when the weather appears settled, and all around is quiet, the whole party mounts to the tops of the highest trees, whence, at a signal, consisting of a single cluck, given by a leader, the flock takes flight for the opposite shore. The old and fat birds easily get over, even should the river be a mile in breadth; but the younger and less robust frequently fall into the water,-not to be drowned, however, as might be imagined. They bring their wings close to their body, spread out their tail as a support, stretch forward their neck, and, striking out their legs with great vigour, proceed rapidly towards the shore; on approaching which, should they find it too steep for landing, they cease their exertions for a few moments, float down the stream until they come to an accessible part, and by a violent effort generally extricate themselves from the water"

 

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

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Audubon's osprey

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my favorite Audubon's:

Fish hawk, (today, Osprey)

This is just a magnificent portrait of an osprey. Love it! Love it! If I could own but one Audubon, this would be it. Watching an osprey dive into the water after a fish and then wrestle it to the surface and fly away is one of the most dramatic acts you'll ever witness in nature. SPLASH! I've seen it often. Power personified. Audubon writes:

“When the fish hawk plunges into the water in pursuit of a fish, it sometimes proceeds deep enough to disappear for an instant. The sure caused by its descent is so great as to make the spot around it present the appearance of a mass of foam. On rising with its prey, it is seen holding it in the manner represented in the Plate. It mounts a few yards into the air, shakes the water from its plumage, squeezes the fish with its talons, and immediately proceeds towards its nest, to feed its young, or to a tree, to devour the fruit of its industry in peace. When it has satisfied its hunger, it does not, like other Hawks, stay perched until hunger again urges it forth, but usually sails about at a great height over the neighbouring waters."

 

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.


To see a Pandion haliaetus in action, click: SPLASH.

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Audubon's purple heron

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my favorite Audubon's:

Purple heron, (today, reddish egret)

Since I've never been to the Keys or spent much time on the Gulf coast—it's on my bucket list, or in my case barrel list—I've never seen this egret. Audubon writes:

"The Purple Heron is a constant resident on the Florida Keys, to which it is so partial at all seasons that it never leaves them. Some individuals are seen as far east as Cape Florida, and westward along the Gulf of Mexico. Whether it may ever betake itself to fresh water I cannot say, but I never found one in such a situation. It is a more plump bird for its size than most other Herons, and in this respect resembles the Night Heron and the Yellow-crowned species, but possesses all the gracefulness of the tribe to which it belongs. 

The remarkable circumstance of this bird's changing from white to purple, will no doubt have some tendency to disconcert the systematists, who, it seems, pronounce all the birds which they name Egrets to be always white.”

In this case, he got it a bit wrong. There's two morphs: some reddish egrets are that color, while other reddish egrets are indeed white. 

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

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Audubon's marsh wren

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....my favorite Audubon's:

Nuttall's short-billed marsh wren, (today, sedge wren)

What the heck. I still have a few more favorite Audubon's I want to share. In the case of the sedge wren, what a beautifully constructed nest. Audubon writes: 

"The nest of the Short-billed Marsh Wren is made wholly of dry or partly green sedge, bent usually from the top of the grassy tuft in which the fabric is situated. With much ingenuity and labour these simple materials are loosely entwined together into a spherical form, with a small and rather obscure entrance left on the side. A thin lining is sometimes added to the whole, of the linty fibres of the silk-weed, or some other similar material. The eggs, pure white, and destitute of spots, are probably from six to eight.”

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

Audubon ultimately painted 497 species of birds for his masterwork, The Birds of America, thus establishing a new number for how many can be found in this country (today we know the number is over 600). During the process he identified 25 new species and numerous sub-species unknown to science.

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Audubon's goldfinch

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....my favorite Audubon's:

Yellow bird, (today, American goldfinch)

What the heck. I still have a few more favorite Audubon's I want to share. In the case of the goldfinch, he accurately portrayed the species of the plant it's most closely associated with, the thistle. Audubon writes about its flight pattern: 

" The flight of the yellow bird is performed in deep curved lines, alternately rising and falling, after each propelling motion of its wings…uttering two or three notes whilst ascending.”

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

Audubon ultimately painted 497 species of birds for his masterwork, The Birds of America, thus establishing a new number for how many can be found in this country (today we know the number is over 600). During the process he identified 25 new species and numerous sub-species unknown to science.

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Such a deal!

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A few hours ago, an American collector 
bidding by phone bought a first edition Audubon The Birds of America 
from Christie's auction house for

$7.9 million

something of a surprise since in 2010, a first edition sold for 
$11.5 million. 

Such a deal.

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Today: Audubon Auction

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....my favorite Audubon's:

Virginia partridge, (today, Northern bobwhite quail)

Sometime later today, a first edition of this intense action print—a red-shouldered hawk going after a covey of quail—will change hands. It's one of the 435 hand-colored engravings at auction today at Christie's in New York. Bound in one of four volumes, it's a rare and unique achievement in natural history and art, the product of John James Audubon, a Haitian-French-born American naturalist/artist, and an English engraver: Robert Havell plus a team of colorists and other artists.

Owned by the heirs of the Fourth Duke of Portland, this evening their copy of The Birds of America (circa. 1838) will have a new owner. Let's hope he/she has a party inviting all their friends and one lone blogger from Tennessee.

Stay tuned for an update.  

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Annabel Lee

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"It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

By the name of Annabel Lee; —

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me."

Opening stanza from the poem 

"Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe

born on this date: 19 January 1809

We salute you, salute you, salute you. Evermore. 

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Audubon's great blue heron

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....my favorite Audubon's:

Blue heron, (today, great blue heron)

A single Havell engraved, hand water-colored great blue heron print from the first edition can sell for $100,000. Audubon found this species widespread throughout the East. He writes: 

"The manners of this Heron are exceedingly interesting at the approach of the breeding season, when the males begin to look for partners. About sunrise you see a number arrive and alight either on the margin of a broad sand-bar or on a savannah. They come from different quarters, one after another, for several hours; and when you see forty or fifty before you, it is difficult for you to imagine that half the number could have resided in the same district.”

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.


On January 20, a complete first edition boxed-set of Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings (depicting 497 species) printed on handmade paper measuring 29.5 X 39.5 inches. Assembled into four volumes, it's massive.

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Audubon's scrub jay

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....my favorite Audubon's:

Florida jay, (today, scrub jay)

This species is becoming scarce in the Sunshine State because of habitat loss. I have seen only one Florida scrub jay in my life, along a railroad track at the back of Oscar Scherer State Park south of Sarasota. Audubon writes: 

"The flight of the Florida Jay is generally performed at a short distance from the ground, and consists either of a single sailing sweep, as it shifts from one tree or bush to another, or of continuous flappings, with a slightly undulated motion, in the manner of the Magpie (Pica melanoleuca) or of the Canada Jay (Garrulus canadensis). Its notes are softer than those of its relative the Blue Jay (Garrulus cristatus), and are more frequently uttered.”

"I have represented a pair of Florida Jays on a branch of the persimmon tree, ornamented with its richly coloured fruits. This tree grows to a moderate height as well as girth. The wood is hard and compact. The leaves drop off at an early period. The fruit, when fully ripe, is grateful to the palate. The persimmon occurs in all parts of the United States, but abounds in the low lands of Florida and Louisiana, probably more than in any other portion of the Union."

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

On Fridat, a complete first edition boxed-set of Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings (depicting 497 species) printed on handmade paper measuring 29.5 X 39.5 inches. Assembled into four volumes, it's massive.

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Audubon's barn swallow

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my favorite Audubon's:

Barn swallow

Adobe: a natural building material made of sand, clay or mud mixed with a natural fiber like grass or straw. Long before Native Americans built their homes with it, barn swallows had perfected the technique. Audubon writes:

"The nest is attached to the side of a beam or rafter in a barn or shed, under a bridge, or sometimes even in an old well, or in a sink hole, such as those found in the Kentucky barrens. Whenever the situation is convenient and affords sufficient room, you find several nests together, and in some instances I have seen seven or eight within a few inches of each other; nay, in some large barns I have counted forty, fifty, or more. 

"The male and the female both betake themselves to the borders of creeks, rivers, ponds, or lakes, where they form small pellets of mud or moist earth, which they carry in their bill to the chosen spot, and place against the wood, the wall, or the rock, as it may chance to be. They dispose of these pellets in regular lays, mixing, especially with the lower, a considerable quantity of long slender grasses, which often dangle for several inches beneath the bottom of the nest.”

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

On January 20, a complete first edition boxed-set of Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings (depicting 497 species) printed on handmade paper measuring 29.5 X 39.5 inches. Assembled into four volumes, it's massive.

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Audubon's snowy egret

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my favorite Audubon's:

Snowy heron (today, snowy egret)

In my book Ghost Birds, I write about snowy egrets. By the early 1900s, like the roseate spoonbill, they were almost lost due to plume-hunting. E.A. McIlhenny, the heir to, of all things, the Tabasco Sauce empire is credited with single-handedly bringing snowy egrets back to Louisiana and a man-made rookery/wildlife sanctuary he created called "Bird City." One hundred years before that Audubon writes:

"This beautiful species is a constant resident in Florida and Louisiana, where thousands are seen during winter, and where many remain during the breeding season. 


"While migrating, they fly both by night and by day, in loose flocks of from twenty to a hundred individuals, sometimes arranging themselves in a broad front, then forming lines, and again proceeding in a straggling manner. They keep perfectly silent, and move at a height seldom exceeding a hundred yards. Their flight is light, undetermined as it were, yet well sustained, and performed by regular flappings, as in other birds of the tribe.”

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

On January 20, a complete first edition boxed-set of Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings (depicting 497 species) printed on handmade paper measuring 29.5 X 39.5 inches. Assembled into four volumes, it's massive.

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Audubon's spoonbill

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my favorite Audubon's: 

Roseate spoonbill

A species we almost lost because of the plume hunters and the popularity of those pink feathers. Audubon writes:

"This beautiful and singular bird, although a constant resident in the southern extremities of the peninsula of Florida, seldom extends its journeys in an eastern direction beyond the State of North Carolina...The Roseate Spoonbill is found for the most part along the marshy and muddy borders of estuaries, the mouths of rivers, ponds, or sea islands or keys partially overgrown with bushes, and perhaps still more commonly along the shores of those singular salt-water bayous so abundant within a mile or so of the shores, where they can reside and breed in perfect security in the midst of an abundance of food.”

By John James Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, yet often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

On January 20, a complete first edition boxed-set of Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings (depicting 497 species) printed on handmade paper measuring 29.5 X 39.5 inches. Assembled into four volumes, it's massive.

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Audubon's ivory-bill

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my favorite Audubon's:

Ivory-billed woodpecker

A species near and dear to my heart since I spent four years writing a book about them. Audubon writes: 


"The ivory-billed woodpecker confines its rambles to a comparatively very small portion of the United States, it never having been observed in the Middle States within the memory of any person now living there

I wish, kind reader, it were in my power to present to your mind's eye the favourite resort of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Would that I could describe the extent of those deep morasses, overshadowed by millions of gigantic dark cypresses, spreading their sturdy moss-covered branches, as if to admonish intruding man to pause and reflect on the many difficulties which he must encounter, should he persist in venturing farther into their almost inaccessible recesses, extending for miles before him, where he should be interrupted by huge projecting branches, here and there the massy trunk of a fallen and decaying tree, and thousands of creeping and twining plants of numberless species!”

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, yet often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

On January 20, a complete first edition boxed-set of Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings printed on handmade paper measuring 29.5 X 39.5 inches. Assembled into four volumes, it's massive.

I'll be speaking at Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge today at 1 p.m. about my book "Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Ivory-bill."

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Audubon's snowy owl

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my favorite Audubon's:

Snowy owl

One of the species I have yet to add to my life list. Audubon writes:

"This beautiful bird is merely a winter visitor of the United States, where it is seldom seen before the month of November, and whence it retires as early as the beginning of February. It wanders at times along the sea coast, as far as Georgia. I have occasionally seen it in the lower parts of Kentucky, and in the State of Ohio. It is more frequently met with in Pennsylvania and the Jerseys; but in Massachusetts and Maine it is far more abundant than in any other parts of the Union...Scarcely is there a winter which does not bring several of these hardy natives of the north to the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville. At the break of day, one morning, when I lay hidden in a pile of drift logs, at that place, waiting for a shot at some wild geese, I had an opportunity of seeing this Owl secure fish.”

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, yet often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

On January 20, a complete first edition set of Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings (depicting 497 species) printed on handmade paper measuring 29.5 X 39.5 inches. Assembled into four volumes, it's massive.

I'll be speaking at Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge today at 1 p.m. about the "Making of Audubon's Birds of America," a most remarkable feat.

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Audubon's Louisiana waterthrush

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my favorite Audubon's:

Once known by the odd sobriquet aquatic wagtail (aquatic because it likes to be near water and wagtail because it bobs its tail), it was Audubon who gave this bird its more lyrical name still in use today:

Louisiana waterthrush

"Much and justly as the song of the Nightingale is admired, I am inclined, after having listened to it, to pronounce it in no degree superior to that of the Louisiana Water Thrush...I have taken the liberty of naming this first songster of our groves after the country which has afforded me my greatest pleasure...The Common Water Thrush is at all times and in every situation shy even to wildness. The Louisiana Water Thrush is so gentle and unsuspicious as to allow a person to approach within a few yards of it.”

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, yet often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

On January 20, a complete first edition boxed-set of Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings printed on handmade paper measuring 29.5 X 39.5 inches. Assembled into four volumes, it's massive.

I'll be speaking at Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge tomorrow at 1 p.m. about the "Making of Audubon's Birds of America," a most remarkable feat.

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Audubon's tricolored heron

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my favorite Audubon's:

Louisiana heron, (today, Tricolored heron)

"Delicate in form, beautiful in plumage, and graceful in its movements, I never see this interesting Heron, without calling it the Lady of the Waters. Watch its motions, as it leisurely walks over the pure sand beaches of the coast of Florida, arrayed in the full beauty of its spring plumage. Its pendent crest exhibits its glossy tints, its train falls gracefully over a well defined tail, and the tempered hues of its back and wings contrast with those of its lower parts. Its measured steps are so light that they leave no impression on the sand, and with its keen eye it views every object around with the most perfect accuracy.”

By Audubon the naturalist, from his Ornithological Biography.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent, perseverance and derring-do, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious, yet often farouche, John James Audubon was the first to put in print.

On January 20, a complete first edition boxed-set of Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings printed on handmade paper measuring 29.5 X 39.5 inches. Assembled into four volumes, it's massive.

I'll be speaking at Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge on Thursday at 1 p.m. about the "Making of Audubon's Birds of America," a most remarkable feat.

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Audubon's indigo bunting

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my favorite Audubon's:

Indigo-bird, (today, bunting)

"The indigo bird is not a forest bird, but prefers the skirts of the woods, the little detached thickets in and along the fields, the meadows, the gardens, and orchards…they sing from the highest top of a detached tree.”

From Ornithological Biography by naturalist/artist John James Audubon.

Why is Audubon relevant? Because in addition to his artistic talent and perseverance, he was a d--- good naturalist. A lot of what we know today about birds, the audacious Audubon was the first to put in print. 

On January 20, a complete first edition set of Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings printed on handmade paper measuring 29.5 X 39.5 inches. Assembled into four volumes, it's massive.

I'll be speaking at Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge on Thursday at 1 p.m. about the "Making of Audubon's Birds of America," a most remarkable feat.

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Audubon's yellow-billed cuckoo

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my favorite Audubon's:

Yellow-billed cuckoo

"They resort to the deepest shades of the forests, and intimate their presence by the frequent repetition of their dull and unmusical notes, which are not unlike those of the young bull-frog. These notes may be represented by the word cow, cow, repeated eight or ten times with increasing rapidity. In fact, from the resemblance of its notes to that word, this Cuckoo is named Cow-bird in nearly every part of the Union. The Dutch farmers of Pennsylvania know it better by the name Rain Crow.”

From Ornithological Biography by naturalist/artist John James Audubon. (Today, the cowbird is an entirely different species but Aububon the naturalist, knew it was a cuckoo.)

On January 20, a complete first edition, four volume Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings each measuring 28X30 inches. Massive.

I'll be speaking at Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge on Thursday at 1 p.m. about the "Making of Audubon's Birds of America," a most remarkable feat. 

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Audubon's red-shouldered hawk

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my favorite Audubon's:

Red-shouldered buzzard, (today: hawk)

"The bird is one of the most noisy of its genus, during spring especially, when it would be difficult to approach the skirts of woods bordering a large plantation without hearing its discordant shrill notes, ka-hee, ka-hee."

From Ornithological Biography by naturalist/artist John James Audubon.

On January 20, a complete first edition, four volume Audubon's The Birds of America including his five-volume Ornithological Biography will be auctioned in New York at Christie's. There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing over 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings each measuring 28X30 inches. Massive.

I'll be speaking at Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge on Thursday at 1 p.m. about the "Making of Audubon's Birds of America," a most remarkable feat. 

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Audubon's ruffed grouse

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If you follow the world of art or books, you may already know that later this month a complete first edition of Audubon's The Birds of America will be auctioned in New York at Christie's.

There are only 120 known copies of this huge work. As big as a coffee table, weighing just shy of 200 pounds, it contains 435 hand-colored engravings each measuring 28X30 inches. As a bonus, there's a first edition five-volume set of Audubon's Ornithological Biography, containing pretty much all the backwoods naturalist knew about every species which was considerable, plus several tall tales thrown in for good measure.

The rare set is being sold by the heirs of the 4th Duke of Portland, so it's probably been in their possession since the 1830s.

Christie's expects the book (really multiply volumes) should go for between 7 and 10 million, but the last one that sold in London went for 11.5 million so I expect more, making it the most expensive book ever purchased.  And it was created by a naturalist artist, one of the brother/sisterhood!

I'll be speaking at Ijams Nature Center tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. and again next week at Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge on Thursday at 1 p.m. about the "Making of Audubon's Birds of America," a most Herculean endeavor, the warp and weft of legend.

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soaring like a hawk

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OK. Admit it. Haven't you often dreamed of soaring like a hawk?

Well, here's a photo bouncing around the Internet of a red-winged blackbird that figured out how to turn that dream into reality.

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who was Nutting?

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Nutting's flycatcher

If you followed the blog of John Vanderpoel's attempt to break birding’s Big Year record of 745 species set by Sandy Komito in 1998, you perhaps already know that Vanderpoel finished 2011 a feather's weight shy of the mark.

His 744th bird of the calendar year was a Nutting's Flycatcher, (Myiarchus nuttingi) he and his brother found in Arizona on December 31.

Still 744 is a remarkable feat, second highest total ever.

You might wonder just who is the flycatcher normally found in Mexico and Costa Rica named to honor?

Charles Cleveland Nutting (1858 – 1927) or simply C.C. Nutting as he preferred, was an American zoologist who led various expeditions to Central America, Florida and Hawaii often taking his best students with him. He was professor of zoology and curator of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Iowa from 1886 to 1890. Noted for not only teaching his students a way to make a living but also a way to live, "soul values" he called it.

However, Nutting's most important papers deal with marine hydroids not flycatchers. He described 124 new species and beautifully illustrated his monograph on American hydroids. Hydrozoans are small, predatory animals related to jellyfish and corals. The most famous member of the group in my area are the freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbyi) found in Mead's Quarry at Ijams Nature Center.

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