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Born April 26, 1785 on a plantation in Les Cayes, Santo Domingo (now known as Haiti), John James Audubon was a pioneer for the protection of wildlife and their natural habitats. Born to a sea captain and his French mistress, the young boy was taken to live in France in 1789. While the young Audubon was provided a good education, his passion was for painting and the world outdoors. This passion would later be combined, leaving an unforgettable glimpse at wildlife, especially that of birds.

In 1803, the young John was sent by his father to live on an estate that the elder Audubon owned in Mill Gove, Pennsylvania in part to escape recruitment into Napoleon's army. He would later move to Louisville, Kentucky, start his own general store, and in 1808 he married Lucy Bakewell, a former neighbor from Mill Grove. He would take her to Louisville and his business venture with the store soon failed as did several other endeavors that John Audubon would try throughout his life.

As he hunted the land for food to support his family, Audubon became more interested in the environment and the world of birds. He would sketch these creatures during his outings but then began to bring his specimens home to study their details for his work. His early work included tying thread to the legs of baby birds to study their habits which he later found that some species returned to their birthplace to nest and create future generations. This form of bird study has been said to be the first known "banding experiments" performed on wild birds in the United States.

His wife Lucy became a governess which was their only means of financial support as Audubon would find himself bankrupt by 1819. His new endeavor would be to finish his collection of bird paintings and prepare them for publication. With little to no money, John Audubon set out to find somewhere to publish his collection. Having failed to find any support in America, Audubon travelled to both England and Scotland in 1826. Both he and his work were well received and a short year later, John James Audubon was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Over the next eleven years, "Birds of America" was released and has been referred to as "one of the rarest and most ambitious works ever published". Audubon would also write with the help of William Macgillivray, five volumes of content to complement his reproduced paintings, text that charted and documented approximately 500 species of birds.

His work including his books would finally allow John James Audubon to succeed at a business venture however, this time it was a project that included his passion for wildlife and their environments. With his wealth, Audubon purchased an estate back in America near the Hudson River. He started another venture that included a book along with paintings of North American animals but was only completed after his death by his sons and close friend Pastor John Bachman.

John James Audubon died on January 27, 1851 and his name is honored by the "National Audubon Society", an organization dedicated in preserving and protecting all wildlife and their habitats, both of which were concerns of the late John Audubon. Some of his last writings discussed the destruction of birds and the environment in which they inhabit and the growing need of conservation for all wildlife.

References:

THE NEW BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE, Grolier, copyright 2003.

http://www.audubon.org/nas/jja .html

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