April 26 marks the 226th birthday of ornithologist John James Audubon. Celebrating this lover of birds, Google has created a custom doodle featuring birds from across North America.
Audubon was born in what is now Haiti and spent much of his youth in France. He arrived in America in 1803 and lived on a farm owned by Quaker relatives in Pennsylvania. Here, Audubon fell in love with nature and spent much of his time exploring and studying his surroundings.
Audubon’s , Birds of North America, featured 435 realistic life-sized painting of the wildlife he observed while traveling the continent. The project was so costly that the young naturalist traveled to Europe for funding and delivered for-pay lectures in France and Britain. Eleven years in the making, the catalog was completed in 1838.
In 1905, an environmental conservation society formed, taking Audubon’s name. Today, the Audubon Society is one of the oldest groups of its kind.
Learn more about John James Audubon here:
http://www.squidoo.com/audubon