Good morning, I wanted to take the time this morning to share another Holiday with you. April 26 Audubon Day #AudubonDay which if your Homeschooling like my family is makes a wonderful time to study Birds and will get us out of the House at the same time. Would you like to go to the Zoo with us to look at the Bird display and also check out any Penguins they may have for a Holiday that happened earlier in the week.
If your like my family you admire people working towards conservation activities which factors into our celebrations of Audubon Day which falls on April 26th each year. Audubon Day is held to commemorate the birth of John James Audubon, a brilliant illustrator, conservationist, ornithologist, and naturalist and National Audubon Day also recognizes the crucial work done by The National Audubon Society.
If your like my family you admire people working towards conservation activities which factors into our celebrations of Audubon Day which falls on April 26th each year. Audubon Day is held to commemorate the birth of John James Audubon, a brilliant illustrator, conservationist, ornithologist, and naturalist and National Audubon Day also recognizes the crucial work done by The National Audubon Society.
I thought I would share a coloring page you can share with your family before I share more information on National Audubon Day with you.
National Audubon Day is celebrated in honor of (and marks the birth of) John James Audubon, a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter who was well-known for his extensive studies on American birds and their habitats. Born in Saint Domingue (now Haiti), Audubon was raised in France by his father and stepmother.
John James Audubon began studying and drawing birds after moving to America, continuing to do so even as he moved to Kentucky with his wife, Lucy. John James Audubon began delving deeper into his hobby of Bird illustrations after the store that he owned went bankrupt, even sailing down the Mississippi River on a flatboat to find new Birds to paint.
John James Audubon was so successful that he took his work to England and published it there. This work, Audubon’s greatest work, “The Birds of America,” is now widely considered as one of the most noteworthy examples of wildlife illustration. It set the tone for future wildlife illustrations; even today, artists are measured against this book’s standards.
Years after Audubon’s death on January 27, 1851, one of Audubon’s wife’s students, George Bird Grinnell, went on to co-found the The National Audubon Society in John Audubon’s memory. This society promotes and protects the habitats that support the world’s birds, and also sponsors National Audubon Day. Located in the United States, this society is one of the oldest such organizations in the world. Today, there are many branches of the National Audubon Society all over the U.S., connecting John Audubon’s name to bird conservation forever.
TIME TO CELEBRATE AUDUBON DAY
- let’s get out of the house and go bird watching which can become a fun pastime which is enjoyed by around 45 million people, as per data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Grabs your shoes and a light jacket then step outside for a quick walk and observe the Birds around you.
- While out on your walk right down the types of Birds you see then when you get home you can look up details of Birds you don’t recognize on the Audubon website. You can even take the fun one step further by learning about their names, habitats, and migration patterns.
- If you are lucky enough to have space in your backyard design your own bird-friendly yard with native shrubs, trees, pedestal birdbaths, and more. You can hang bird feeders that you’ve created from plastic bottles, coffee cans, or even milk jugs for a better environmental impact.
- By all accounts, John Audubon loved illustrating birds. Take a feather out of his book and draw the Birds you see and then paint them to hang up in your home.
FACTS ABOUT AUDUBON DAY
- Audubon introduced the concept of Bird banding to America which is the of process of attaching a small tag to the wing of wild Birds to make identification easier and this was first introduced by Audubon in North America.
- In 2010, the first edition of Audubon’s book, “The Birds of America,” sold in London for a whopping $11 million.
- Audubon was an exceptional taxidermist so he could sketch Birds, then, if they died, prepare, stuff, and mount the Birds.
- Famous naturalist, geologist, and biologist Charles Darwin sat in on one of Audubon’s demonstrations of his methods, as a student.
WHY PEOPLE LOVE AUDUBON DAY
- Many of us live in concrete jungles where the only brush of nature is a faraway tree, a kitchen garden, or a small shrub. Observing Audubon Day brings us closer to nature and to what it means to be human in this world.
- The climate crisis reminds us that most of us aren’t that mindful when it comes to nature or conservation. Perhaps learning about Audubon’s conservation attempts and the Audubon Society’s efforts to study and help birds and their habitat will inspire us to make more hands-on contributions, starting by simply being more bird-friendly..
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
