John James Audubon (1785–1851) was born in Haiti, raised in France, and spent the majority of …

John James Audubon (1785–1851) was born in Haiti, raised in France, and spent the majority of his career as an ornithologist, naturalist, and painter in the eastern United States. In 1803 he began overseeing a family farm in Pennsylvania where his study of birds began in earnest. He performed the first recorded experiment with bird-banding in the U.S. by tying yarns around the legs of Eastern Phoebes in order to determine that they returned to the same nesting ground year after year. When the Pennsylvania farm failed, he journeyed down the Mississippi River, embarking on his first major bird documentation trip. Using pencil and watercolors, he drew meticulous representations of birds that were far more lifelike than anything his predecessors had created, despite the fact that he hunted and carefully mounted each bird before painting it.

He had difficulty in selling a book of his drawings in the U.S., but it was a remarkable success in Britain, where he raised enough money to publish The Birds of America in stages between 1827 and 1839. This immense, double-folio volume featured hand-colored aquatint etchings. A copy in excellent condition sold at auction for almost $9 million in 2000 and remains the highest price ever paid for any printed book to date.

The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is an extremely common bird throughout …

The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is an extremely common bird throughout the eastern United States and Canada, seen as far south as Belize in Central America. Males are known for their vivid red feathers&$151;it is named for the deep red color of a Catholic cardinal's vestments. They are very territorial song birds, and because they learn their songs, they vary regionally. Males will deliver a sharp, clear whistle to define their territory against other males. The Northern Cardinal is the official bird of more states than any other species: North Carolina, West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia.

Painted Buntings (Passerina ciris) are a member of the cardinal family, easily identified by their bright blue head, green back, and red belly. Their secretive nature and the female's camouflage coloring can make them difficult to spot in thickets, woods, and brush, but they are common throughout the eastern U.S., especially in their breeding grounds in the southeast. They are a popular cage bird in Latin America, but their biggest threat is the loss of habitat to suburban development.