Flipping the Birds

The Muskie Archives presents its copy of John James Audubon’s Birds of America for display in the lobby of Ladd Library. The first folio presentation was on November 20th, 2024. Page turnings will continue on a monthly basis through June 2025. Archives staff will lead monthly page turnings and have guest speakers to add context and information about each featured bird.

The edition of Birds of America, a double elephant folio published in 1860, features 150 of the 435 drawings that were first printed beginning in 1827. This double elephant folio, with lithographs by Julius Bien, was the first Audubon printed entirely in America. Although the Civil War brought an early end to production of the volume, nearly bankrupting the family, the resulting work was still a masterpiece of nineteenth century nature art and book publishing.

Join us Saturday, June 7th at 1:00pm in the lobby of Ladd Library for the next presentation. 

Subsequent dates:

No July or August page turnings, but we will return in September! Stay tuned for future dates!

May’s featured bird: American Flamingo

The American Flamingo is the only one (of six) flamingo species native to North America, and can be found across the Caribbean, the Yucatán Peninsula, the northern coast of South America, and the Galápagos Islands. Although once fairly common across southern Florida, by 1905 they were considered largely extirpated from that state as a result of overhunting for their fashionable plumage. In recent years they have been spotted in Florida in increasing numbers, and while they may be nearly year-round residents, as of yet there is no sign that they have re-established any nesting grounds there. 

What are some other interesting things about flamingos? 

– They are born with gray-white feathers, and only become pink (Audubon called it “scarlet”) because of diet, which also affects their skin, egg yolks, and body fat; 

– Their legs do not “bend backwards,” as the joint you can see here is actually an ankle joint. The knee joint is hidden beneath their feathers, and bends normally; 

– They do often stand on one leg, either to save energy or to conserve body heat; 

– Hurricanes have been known to blow flamingos far from home. In fall 2023, after hurricane Idalia struck Florida, flamingos were reported in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; 

– A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance.

For more information, see the National Audubon Society pages on the American Flamingo.

April’s featured bird: Pileated Woodpecker

The pileated (first syllable pronounced ‘PILL’ or ‘PILE,’ your choice) woodpecker is the largest North American woodpecker still known to exist. (The larger Ivory-Billed and Imperial Woodpeckers are believed extinct.)  With a “Least Concern” conservation status, these birds are thriving across the continent, despite habitat loss. Preferring forests but also not uncommon in suburban areas, they can be found in every state east of the Mississippi River, across much of southern Canada, and in the Pacific Northwest and parts of California. Their population is estimated at around 2.6 million, and growing. While they do eat a variety of insect pests, they can also cause damage to trees, homes, and even telephone poles, such that often people resort to damage mitigation tactics to fend off these birds on their property. 

Even if you have never seen a woodpecker in the wild, you probably have heard one. Not only pecking in trees for food and nest-building, but also ‘drumming’ on various surfaces, including house siding and gutters, to proclaim their territory. According to online sources, this behavior is common for most of the nine woodpecker species that can be observed in Maine. Growing up in Virginia, I remember hearing and seeing pileated and red-headed woodpeckers, as well as flickers, drumming on trees and our house during the summer. (Usually they would only drum on the house early in the morning, as if trying to wake us up.)

For more information, see the National Audubon Society pages on the Pileated Woodpecker.

March’s featured birds: Atlantic Puffins and Razorbills

This month’s page features two seabirds in the alcid family, characterized by their stout body shape and small wings. Flying requires a lot of effort for alcids, but they dive underwater very efficiently, propelling themselves with their wings as they chase small fish and large zooplankton to eat. Atlantic Puffins and Razorbills are among the five species in the world who can catch multiple fish at once and bring them to their chicks held crosswise in their bills. Both these species are found in the North Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Maine.

Atlantic Puffin (current taxonomic name: Fratercula arctica)
In early June of 1833, Audubon described his views of puffins from a ship off the coast of Labrador: “sometimes they were so numerous as actually to cover the water to the extent of half an acre or more.” Puffins are known to be gregarious on land as well. Many behaviors that function as group communication have been described, such as “spot-stomp,” “bill gape,” and “moth flight.”

Razorbill (current taxonomic name: Alca torda)
Razorbill chicks hatch covered in gray down and spend less than 3 weeks in the nest (half as long as puffins), rapidly growing waterproof body feathers and reaching about 30% of adult body mass. At this stage, still flightless, chicks head out to sea accompanied by the male parent, who feeds them as they swim together for the next month or so.  

For more information, see the National Audubon Society pages on Atlantic Puffins and Razorbills.

February’s featured bird: Carolina Parrot

The Carolina Parakeet–here called a ‘parrot’ by Audubon–was first described by Europeans in Florida in 1583, and first described scientifically in the 1730s. Its habitat was primarily in old-growth forests and swamps, and along rivers, and it ranged throughout the southeastern US, although it was reliably observed as far north as New York and Wisconsin, and as far west as Colorado. Unfortunately, the Carolina Parakeet is now considered extinct, with the last known specimen dying in the Cincinnati zoo in 1918. Sightings were reported from swamps in Georgia and South Carolina in the 1930s, but these were never confirmed. 

This once-plentiful bird was already in observable decline by the time Audubon described them in the 1830s, most likely due to deforestation, overhunting, and the decorative value of their plumage. Valued at first for its large appetite for the (possibly) invasive cocklebur plant, farmers quickly discovered that the birds would eat nearly any other crop, besides corn, as well. Entire fields were wiped out by large flocks of the noisy birds, but as they did not flee from humans, they were easily dispatched in large numbers. Despite the population decline throughout the 19th century, ornithologists still noted large flocks and numerous nesting sites in some areas as late as 1896. However, a decade later even these were nearly gone, despite the loss of habitat, leaving the ultimate reason for their extinction still something of a mystery.

For more information, see the National Audubon Society page on the Carolina Parrot.

January’s featured birds: Arctic Tern and Sandwich Tern

This month’s presentation features two different species of terns, which are seabirds
closely related to the gulls. Terns are a bit more specialized for feeding on small
fish, however, and so are not as attracted to humans and our garbage. They tend to
be seen over open water, especially near the coast, but sometimes very far offshore.

Arctic Tern (modern taxonomic name: Sterna paradisaea)
We now know that these small birds make amazing migrations, traveling from the
Arctic to the Antarctic and back, every year. Audubon painted this one after
observing and collecting them in the Atlantic Canada in 1833. He writes about
their buoyant flight: “Light as a sylph, the Arctic Tern dances through the air above
and around you.”

Sandwich Tern (modern taxonomic name: Thalasseus sandvicensis)
Audubon first encountered this species in North America on May 26 th , 1832, while
sailing along the Florida Keys. He describes their very simple nests (typical of
many tern species), in which the eggs are: “…dropped on the sand, at short
intervals, with scarcely any appearance of a hollow for their reception.” Today they
are present further north (to Virginia) than during the 19th century.

December’s featured bird: Virginian Partridge

The Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) is not a partridge at all, but rather a New World quail. The common name comes from its three note song: “poor bob white.” Though their natural range, which covers much of the eastern United States, extends no further north than Massachusetts, you may occasionally see this bird in Maine. Hunting clubs bring them into the state, and some do get away. These highly social birds live in groups called coveys.  As a defensive maneuver, a covey may form a rosette: a circle of birds on the ground facing outward, ready to burst forth in every direction when a predator approaches.

November’s featured bird: Wild Turkey

Typical of Audubon’s work is this first plate from the book, most likely showing the Eastern wild turkey, a subspecies. “Drawn from nature” was Audubon’s own description for his art, but his process actually involved shooting the bird then bringing it back to his studio, where it would be rigged into position with a complicated set-up of wires. The specimen here was probably taken by Audubon during one of his travels down the Mississippi River, and is painted among what Audubon called “American Cane” (today called Giant Cane, Arundinaria gigantea). Audubon also painted his birds primarily using watercolors, unlike most naturalist painters of his day who worked in oils. See the National Audubon Society for more information on Wild Turkey.