Audubon Bird of the Day: Jan. 30–Feb. 3

Each Weekday afternoon, a member of the library staff turns a page of Audubon's historic The Birds of America. This ritual, the Audubon Page Turning, takes place at 3:15 pm every weekday. Museum visitors are invited to see the turning of the page and ask any questions they may have.

Audubon bird
Plate 370. American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus).
Audubon bird
Plate 371. Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)
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Plate 372. Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsoni)
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Plate 373. Evening Grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina, top) and
Black-headed grosbeak (Hedymelas melanocephalus)
Audubon bird
Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus)

The Academy of Natural Sciences was an original subscriber to the publication, as John James Audubon became a member of the Academy in 1831. The work was published as a subscription, with five plates at a time released over a period of eleven years, from 1827 to 1838. The Academy eventually bound its plates in five volumes. The Birds of America is quite large, published in a format referred to as the "double elephant folio". This format allowed Audubon to show the birds as close to life-size as possible, making the Trumpeter Swan, Flamingo, Wild Turkey, Bald Eagle and Great Blue Heron quite impressive.