Art-Audubon-Carolina Parakeet TB03

Please drop this item in rural or Premium Member Only caches.  Do not place it in an urban cache or leave it behind at a caching event.  Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; this prevents the chain and tag tangling with other items.  Otherwise, take this travel bug anywhere you wish.  No permission needed to leave the U.S.

This is one of a series of travel bugs made to recognize paintings seen, and admired by the bug owner. A digital copy of this painting was downloaded from the internet. The copy was reduced in size and proportions cropped to accommodate the laminating materials available to the owner. Regrettably these processes diminish the effort of the artist. One truly must see the original in person to fully appreciate the work. The text below is a mixture of my own observations and material gleaned from the internet (mostly Wikipedia and Web Gallery).

John James Audubon (1785- 1851) was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter.  He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book entitled The Birds of America (1827–1839), is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed.

This monumental work consists of 435 hand-colored, life-size prints of 497 bird species, made from engraved copper plates of various sizes depending on the size of the image. They were printed on sheets measuring about 39 by 26 inches (660 mm). The work contains just over 700 North American bird species.  The first and perhaps most famous plate was the Wild Turkey.  Other plates were of several now-extinct American species such as the Carolina Parakeet on this travel bug.  Many of the birds were painted in unrealistic poses in order to show defining characteristics.  The book was first published as a series of sections between 1827 and 1838, in Edinburgh and London.  It is estimated that not more than 200 complete sets were ever compiled, making it one of the rarest books ever.  While copies of the prints are everywhere, I had never seen an original until September 2016, at the San Diego Museum of Natural History.  The Birds of America was one of several rare books on display and to my delight it was open to the Carolina Parakeet page.