Unlike many of the other bird specimens found in Birds of America, the Bird of Washington flies shrouded in mystery. By Audubon’s account, he discovered this four-foot-tall bird in the Great Lakes region in 1814 and claimed it as a new species. Due to its impressive size and noble appearance, Audubon named the bird after George Washington. But scholars and ornithologists in the ensuing years have questioned if the bird ever existed, or if it did, perhaps it was misidentified or became extinct soon after Audubon’s discovery, or it is only located in remote locations unobserved by humans. But the fact remained that there have been very few substantiated sightings of this majestic, and possibly fabricated, eagle.
Audubon financed Birds of America through subscription, and subscribers would receive five prints at a time. Since the Bird of Washington is plate 11, it would have been among the first prints that subscribers received. Some have speculated that Audubon played on some patriotic sentiment when he released this stately bird named after George Washington so early in the subscription process, perhaps to entice new subscribers and secure additional financial backing. You can read more about this marketing idea, as well as an in-depth analysis of the veracity of the Bird of Washington in the two articles below:
- Is it a fake? Read “Audubon’s Bird of Washington: Unravelling the Fraud That Launched The Birds of America”
- Is it real? Read “Substantiating Audubon's Washington Eagle”
Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian
