Legacy




Audubon's influence on ornithology and natural history was far reaching. Nearly all later ornithological works were inspired by his artistry and high standards. Charles Darwin quoted Audubon three times in On the Origin of Species and also in later works. Despite some errors in field observations, he made a significant contribution to the understanding of bird anatomy and behavior through his field notes. The Birds of America is still considered one of the greatest examples of book art. Audubon discovered 25 new species and 12 new subspecies.

  • He was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Linnaean Society, and the Royal Society in recognition of his contributions.
  • The homestead Mill Grove in Audubon, Pennsylvania, is open to the public and contains a museum presenting all his major works, including The Birds of America.
  • The Audubon Museum at John James Audubon State Park in Henderson, Kentucky, houses many of Audubon's original watercolors, oils, engravings and personal memorabilia.
  • In 1905, the National Audubon Society was incorporated and named in his honor. Its mission "is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds ..."
  • He was honored in 1940 by the US Post Office with a 1 cent Famous Americans Series postage stamp; the stamp is green.
  • He was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 22¢ Great Americans series postage stamp.
  • On December 6, 2010, a copy of The Birds of America was sold at a Sotheby's auction for $11.5 million, the second highest price for a single printed book.
  • On April 26, 2011, Google celebrated his 226th birthday by displaying a special Google Doodle on its global homepage.

Audubon in fiction and poetryedit

Audubon is the subject of the 1969 book-length poem, Audubon: A Vision by Robert Penn Warren. Stephen Vincent Benét, with his wife Rosemary Benét, included a poem about Audubon in the children's poetry book A Book of Americans.

Audubon's 1833 trip to Labrador is the subject of the novel Creation by Katherine Govier. Audubon and his wife, Lucy, are the chief characters in the "June" section of the Maureen Howard novel Big as Life: Three Tales for Spring. In the novel Audubon's Watch, John Gregory Brown explores a mysterious death that took place on a Louisiana plantation when Audubon worked there as a young man.

The 1991 Disney series Darkwing Duck named major locations/landmarks Audubon Bay and the Audubon Bay Bridge after Audubon.

Audubon appears in the short story "Audubon In Atlantis" by Harry Turtledove, published in the 2010 collection Atlantis and Other Places.

The choral oratorio Audubon by James Kallembach was premiered on November 9, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts by Chorus pro Musica. The work depicts scenes of Audubon's life and descriptions of the birds he drew with text drawn from the 2004 biography by Richard Rhodes.

Places named in his honoredit

  • Audubon Park and Zoo in New Orleans, where he lived beginning in 1821.
  • Audubon and Audubon Park, both in New Jersey. Many streets in Audubon Park are named after birds drawn by him.
  • Audubon, Pennsylvania, also has the Audubon Bird Sanctuary. Most of the streets in this small town are named after birds that he drew.
  • Audubon Nature Institute, a family of museums, parks, and other organizations in New Orleans, eight of which bear the Audubon name.
  • Audubon Park and country club in Louisville, Kentucky, is in the area of his former general store.
  • Several towns and Audubon County, Iowa.
  • John James Audubon Bridge (Mississippi River), connecting Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana Parishes; over thirty of Audubon's bird paintings were created in West Feliciana Parish.
  • The northbound span of the Bi-State Vietnam Gold Star Bridges was originally named the Audubon Memorial Bridge.
  • Audubon Park, in Memphis, Tennessee, is associated with the nearby Botanic Garden.
  • John James Audubon State Park and the Audubon Museum (located within the park) in Henderson, Kentucky.
  • Audubon Parkway, also in Kentucky, is a limited-access highway connecting Henderson with Owensboro, Kentucky.
  • Rue Jean-Jacques Audubon in Nantes and Rue Audubon in Paris, France.
  • Rue Jean-Jacques Audubon in Couëron, France.
  • Lycée Jean-Jacques Audubon in Couëron, France.
  • Marais Audubon between Couëron and St Etienne de Mont-luc, France.
  • Audubon Circle, a major intersection and neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts; Park Drive (parkway), which runs through the Audubon Circle, was formerly named Audubon Road.
  • John James Audubon Parkway in Amherst, New York.
  • Audubon Avenue in New York, New York.
  • Audubon Bird Sanctuary, Dauphin Island, Alabama
  • Audubon National Wildlife Refuge, Coleharbor, North Dakota
  • Audubon Park, a park and neighborhood in Northeast Minneapolis, Minnesota.
  • Audubon Park, a park and neighborhood in Orlando, Florida. The streets are named after birds, such as Falcon Drive and Raven Road.
  • Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center in Joplin, Missouri.
  • Audubon International, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that administers a wide range of environmental education and certification programs on properties such as golf courses, hotels, school campuses, ski areas, cemeteries, corporate parks, and agricultural lands.
  • The Scioto Audubon Metro Park in Columbus, Ohio
  • Audubon Recreation Center in Garland, Texas.
  • Mount Audubon (13223 ft), Colorado
  • Audubon High School in Camden County, New Jersey, and many primary schools around the United States
  • Audubon Golf Trail - a collection of golf courses spread throughout Louisiana
  • John James Audubon Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois.
  • Pascagoula River Audubon Center in Moss Point, Mississippi.

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Banding experiment with Eastern Phoebes

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In volume 2 of Ornithological Biography (1834), Audubon told a story from his childhood, 30 years after the events reportedly took place, that has since garnered him the label of "first bird bander in America". The story has since been exposed as likely apocryphal. In the spring of 1804, according to the story, Audubon discovered a nest of the "Pewee Flycatcher", now known as Eastern Phoebe ( Sayornis phoebe ), in a small grotto on the property of Mill Grove. To determine whether the other phoebes on the property were "descended from the same stock", Audubon (1834:126) claimed that he tied silver threads to the legs of five nestlings: I took the whole family out, and blew off the exuviae of the feathers from the nest. I attached light threads to their legs: these they invariably removed, either with their bills, or with the assistance of their parents. I renewed them, however, until I found the little fellows habituated to them; and at last, when they we...
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Starting out in business

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Audubon and Jean Ferdinand Rozier moved their merchant business partnership west at various stages, ending ultimately in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, a former French colonial settlement west of the Mississippi River and south of St. Louis. Shipping goods ahead, Audubon and Rozier started a general store in Louisville, Kentucky on the Ohio River; when? the city had an increasingly important slave market and was the most important port between Pittsburgh and New Orleans. Soon he was drawing bird specimens again. He regularly burned his earlier efforts to force continuous improvement. He also took detailed field notes to document his drawings. Due to rising tensions with the British, President Jefferson ordered an embargo on British trade in 1808, adversely affecting Audubon's trading business. In 1810, Audubon moved his business further west to the less competitive Henderson, Kentucky, area. He and his small family took over an abandoned log cabin. In the fields and forests, Audubon wo...
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Later career

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Audubon returned to America in 1829 to complete more drawings for his magnum opus. He also hunted animals and shipped the valued skins to British friends. He was reunited with his family. After settling business affairs, Lucy accompanied him back to England. Audubon found that during his absence, he had lost some subscribers due to the uneven quality of coloring of the plates. Others were in arrears in their payments. His engraver fixed the plates and Audubon reassured subscribers, but a few begged off. He responded, "'The Birds of America' will then raise in value as much as they are now depreciated by certain fools and envious persons." He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1830. He followed The Birds of America with a sequel Ornithological Biographies . This was a collection of life histories of each species written with Scottish ornithologist William MacGillivray. The two books were printed separately to avoid a British law requi...
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