Watercolorist Denis Clavreul’s new “In the Footsteps of Audubon” is a book that should most certainly be known to birdwatchers and naturalists, as well as to artists, historians, and anyone who simply enjoys the opportunity to undertake a remarkable journey across a large portion of North America without ever leaving the comforts of home.
For as often as you’ve likely heard of, about (and if you’re on their mailing list, from) The Audubon Society, how much do you know about its founding and early history? You’ve likely read that it’s forerunner, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, was founded by Harriet Hemenway and Mina Hall in 1896. However that wasn’t it’s true beginning. It was, in fact, initially founded by George Bird Grinnell in 1886 but disbanded in 1889.
In 1921, the journal Pacific Coast Avifauna published “A Distributional List of the Birds of Montana with Notes on the Migration and Nesting of the Better Known Species” by Aretas A. Saunders. Since that time it has remained the only comprehensive reference book to the bird species of that state – until now.
When I initially opened the package containing the advance reading copy of Peter B. Logan’s Audubon; America’s Greatest Naturalist and His Journey of Discovery to Labrador that had been sent to me from Ashbryn Press, I must admit that I had not previously heard of Ashbryn Press, or Peter B. Logan for that matter. However…