Audubon

I went to see the Birds of America exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland last week. It was fantastic. It told the story of one of the world's most famous and valuable books - John James Audubon's Birds of America, a four-volume series of illustrations of 469 bird species of North America from the 19th century. It referenced his interactions with Scottish naturalist, Alexander Wilson, as well as his time in Edinburgh, which allowed him to achieve publication of the series through the people he met here. There were wild turkey families, mockingbirds fighting off snakes, and the magnificent - and possibly imagined - Bird of Washington. All in life-size and carefully restored. It made me think about the ways people choose to share their knowledge and experience of the wildlife around them and what they are discovering. Very John Muir Award! The prints are extremely light-sensitive so will be returned to dark storage drawers after the exhibition. I feel lucky to have seen them.