John James Audubon (1785-1851)

Recognized as the first ornithologist of the New World, Audubon was also a naturalist and an American painter. Beginning in 1810, he led a wandering life as a hunter, with the ambition of finding and painting every bird in North America. From 1830 to 1839, he published The Birds of America, a four-volume work composed of life-size, hand-painted plates. A number of societies were founded and named in his honour.