John James Audubon's 226th birthday celebration was held at the New Hampshire Audubon's McLane Center in Concord on April 17. Tom Burack, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services played the role of Audubon for the day.
Dressed in the style of clothes Audubon might have worn and wearing a wig of long flowing hair, Burack did a masterful job of portraying the life and legacy of Audubon. “Audubon” described his passion (in an authentic French accent, no less) for painting birds and the challenges he faced in creating their life-like images on canvas.
As he held up a painting of passenger pigeons, “Audubon” said he was surprised that no one in the audience had ever seen one of the birds, since he had watched as never-ending waves of their migrating flocks had blackened the sky. Of course, passenger pigeons became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century.
Audubon was born April 26, 1785 and died Jan. 17, 1851. Fifty years after his death, a group of people banded together to protest the wholesale slaughter of birds for their plumes which were used to decorate the hats worn by women. The group eventually came to call itself the Audubon Society, which today continues to inspire and advance conservation for the benefit of birds, wildlife and people.
A much-heralded four volume set of Audubon's “Birds of America” was published in London between 1827 and 1838. “Audubon” lamented that Daniel Webster had not yet paid him for the copies he had received. The real Audubon could not have imagined that a set of his original artwork and manuscripts would be sold at auction in December 2005 for $10.6 million.
An overflow crowd of over 100 people joined in singing “Happy Birthday” to John James Audubon and then partook in cake and punch.
