Audubon movement

The Audubon movement is a collective name for the more than 500 Audubon clubs, societies, and organizations in North America, all of which take their name from the famous bird artist John James Audubon.

Audubon lived from 1785 to 1851, and over the course of a lifetime roamed across a still very wild America to paint hundreds of its birds. A determined and passionate man, he eventually realized his dream of not only painting North America’s birds, but publishing Birds of America, a massive book containing 435 hand-colored plates of 1,065 individual birds.

Audubon became the chosen symbol for a movement begun in the late 1890s to stop the unrestricted slaughter of birds. Early Audubon society members pledged to shun the fashion-of-the-day of wearing hats and coats adorned with bird feathers and wings, and to hunt birds for consumption only, rather than sport or trade.

Early Audubon members studied birds, improved their habitats, and fought for bird protection. Their activism fledged a broader conservation movement and eventually led to passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918. The act ended trade in migratory birds, and was among the first federal protections ever afforded to wildlife.

There are more than 500 Audubon organizations in the United States today. Each of these groups is independent and separately incorporated, and each is free to establish its own programs. Audubon organizations vary greatly in their scope and missions: some remain small bird clubs or societies, while others focus on state, national, or international bird conservation and environmental issues. Through a diversity of approaches, Audubon organizations today carry on the conservation ethic begun at the turn of the 20th Century.

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