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Audubon Birds of America

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Audubon Page-Turning

John James Audubon’s double-elephant folio The Birds of America (London, 1827-1838) can be viewed during the open hours of the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives’s reading room on the third floor of the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library at Bowdoin College.

Bowdoin’s set of Birds of America has been on permanent display since 1956, initially in the former library in Hubbard Hall before moving to the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library in 1965. To showcase this resplendent work while limiting the light exposure that can damage the prints’ sensitive watercolors, only one volume, turned to a single print, is exhibited at a time. In January 2016, Special Collections director Kat Stefko and education and outreach librarian Marieke Van Der Steenhoven inaugurated a monthly page-turning event, beginning with the first plate, in order to better regulate the amount of light each print receives.

Upcoming page-turning events are listed on our Events page and below is an archive of past birds and guest speakers.

Date  Audubon’s Bird Current Name Guest Speaker  Watch Live Stream Recording
January 2016 Wild Turkey Wild Turkey SC&A Staff N/A
February 2016 Yellow-billed Cuckoo Yellow-billed Cuckoo SC&A Staff N/A
March 2016 Prothonotary Warbler Prothonotary Warbler SC&A Staff N/A
April 2016 Purple Finch Purple Finch SC&A Staff  N/A
May 2016 Bonaparte’s Flycatcher Canada Warbler SC&A Staff Watch May ’16 Live Stream 
June 2016 Great American Hen & Young Wild Turkey SC&A Staff  Watch June ’16 Live Stream 
July 2016 Purple Grakle, or Common Crow Blackbird Common Grakle SC&A Staff  Watch July ’16 Live Stream 
August 2016 White throated Sparrow White throated Sparrow SC&A Staff  N/A
September 2016 Selby’s Fly catcher Hooded warbler Nat Wheelwright, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Natural Sciences in the Department of Biology at Bowdoin College N/A
October 2016 Brown Lark American Pipit SC&A Staff  Watch October ’16 Live Stream
November 2016 Bird of Washington Bald Eagle  SC&A Staff  Watch November ’16 Live Stream
December 2016 Baltimore Oriole Baltimore Oriole Ecologist Justin Schuetz, Bowdoin Class of 1994  Watch December ’16 Live Stream
January 2017 Snow Bird Dark-eyed Junco SC&A Staff  Watch January ’17 Live Stream
February  2017 Prairie Warbler Prairie Warbler Birder Thomas Hayward & Botanist Susan Hayward Watch February ’17 Live  Stream 
March  2017 Blue Yellow Back Warbler Northern Parula Peter Logan, Bowdoin Class of 1973 and author of Audubon in Labrador Watch March ’17 Live Stream, Part 1
March  2017 Blue Yellow Back Warbler Northern Parula Peter Logan, Bowdoin Class of 1973 and author of Audubon in Labrador Watch March ’17 Live Stream, Part 2 
April 2017 Great-footed Hawk Peregrine Falcon Matt Klingle, Associate Professor of History and Environmental Studies  Watch April ’17 Live Stream
May 2017 Carolina Pigeon Mourning Dove Susan Wegner, Associate Professor of Art History  Watch May ’17 Live Stream 
June 2017 Bewick’s Wren Bewick’s Wren SC&A Staff Watch June ’17 Live Stream 
July 2017 Louisiana Waterthrush Louisiana Water Thrush SC&A Staff  Watch July ’17 Live Stream 
August 2017 Blue winged yellow warbler Blue-winged warbler  SC&A Staff Watch August ’17 Live Stream 
September 2017  Mocking bird Northern mockingbird Doug Hitchcox, Staff Naturalist at Maine Audubon  Watch September ’17 Live Stream 
October 2017 Purple Martin Purple Martin  SC&A Staff Watch October ’17 Live Stream 
November 2017 Maryland Yellow Throat Common Yellowthroat Kristen Lindquist, Poet and Naturalist  Watch November ’17 Live Stream
December 2017 Louisiana Yellow Throat Common Yellowthroat Don Deerborn, Bates College Professor of Biology Watch December ’17 Live Stream 
January 2018 Song Sparrow Song Sparrow Melissa Cullina, Director of Botanical Research and Herbarium at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Watch January ’18 Live Stream, Part 1
January 2018 Song Sparrow Song Sparrow Melissa Cullina, Director of Botanical Research and Herbarium at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Watch January ’18 Live Stream, Part 2
January 2018 Song Sparrow Song Sparrow Melissa Cullina, Director of Botanical Research and Herbarium at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Watch January ’18 Live Stream, Part 3
February  2018 Carolina Parrot Carolina Parakeet  Margaret & Fritz Buschmann, Siesta Sanctuary, Assisted Living for Retired Parrots  Watch February ’18 Live Stream 
March 2018 Red-headed Woodpecker Red-headed Woodpecker Noah Perlut, A ssociate Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of New England  N/A
April 2018 Solitary Flycatcher or Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Biologist Derek Lovitch, owner of Wild Bird Supply in Freeport, Maine  Watch April ’18 Live Stream, Part 1
April 2018 Solitary Flycatcher or Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Biologist Derek Lovitch, owner of Wild Bird Supply in Freeport, Maine  Watch April ’18 Live Stream, Part 2 
May 2018  Towhe Bunting  Eastern Towhee Patty Jones, Assistant Professor of Biology and Director of the Bowdoin College Scientific Station on Kent Island Watch May ’18 Live Stream 
June 2018 Vigor’s Warbler Pine Warbler Craig Hupper, Class of 1983, and grandson of Birds of America donor Roscoe H. Hupper Watch June ’18 Live Stream 
July 2018  White-headed Eagle Bald Eagle  SC&A Staff Watch July ’18 Live Stream 
August  2018 Black-billed Cuckoo Black-billed Cuckoo SC&A Staff Watch August ’18 Live Stream 
September 2018 American Goldfinch American Goldfinch Colin Windhorst,  Dennysville Historical Society Watch September ’18 Live Stream 
October 2018 Worm eating warbler Work-eating Warbler Havana Coso-Desumet, Bowdoin Class of 2020 Watch October ’18 Live Stream 
November 2018 Children’s Warbler Yellow Warbler Michael Boardman, artist and naturalist   Watch November ’18 Live Stream 
December  2018 Stanley Hawk  Cooper’s Hawk Seth Benz, Director of Bird Ecology Program, Schoodic Insitute, Acadia National Park  Watch December ’18 Live Stream 
January 2019 Gold-winged Woodpecker Northern Flicker Book artist Rebecca Goodale  Watch January ’19 Live Stream 
February 2019 Kentucky Warbler Kentucky Warbler Brendan Murtha, Bowdoin Class of  2021  Watch February ’19 Live Stream 
March 2019 Crested Titmouse Tufted Titmouse  James O’Shea, Bowdoin Class of  2020 Watch March ’19 Live Stream 
April 2019 American Redstart American Redstart Shana Stewart Deeds,
Laboratory Instructor in Biology and Environmental Studies
Watch April ’19 Live Stream 
May 2019 Ruffed Grouse Ruffed Grouse  Author and Naturalist Susan Hand Shetterly Watch May ’19 Live Stream 
June 2019 Orchard Oriole Orchard Oriole SC&A Staff Watch June ’19 Live Stream 
July 2019   Cedar Bird Cedar Waxwing Birder Ian Carlsen  Watch July ’19 Live Stream, Part 1 
July 2019   Summer Red Bird Summer Tanager SC&A Staff Watch July ’19 Page-Turning, Part 2
September 2019 Traill’s Flycatcher Willow Flycatcher Matthew Stuart, Professor of Philosophy Watch September ’19 Live Stream 
October 2019 Barred Owl Barred Owl Katie Galletta, Bowdoin Class of  2021  Watch October ’19 Live Stream 
November 2019 Ruby-throated Humming Bird Ruby-throated Hummingbird  Lauren Fitzgerald, Bowdoin Class of 2000 Watch November ’19 Live Stream 
December 2019 Azure Warbler Cerulean Warbler Jeff Wells, Boreal Song Bird Initiative at the National Audubon Society  Watch December ’19 Live Stream 
February 2020  Blue-green Warbler Cerulean Warbler Sylvia Bosco, Bowdoin Class of 2021  N/A
March  2020  Black & Yellow Warbler Magnolia Warbler Birder and Photographer Don Reimer  Watch March ’20 Live Stream 
September 2020  Red-tailed Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Gallerist and Audubon Mural Project Founder Avi Gitler Watch September ’20 Live Stream 
October 2020  Chuck-will’s Widow Chuck-will’s Widow SC&A Staff Watch October ’20 Live Stream 
November 2020  Painted Finch Painted Bunting Members of Bowdoin Class of 2024, enrolled in Prof. Dana Byrd’s class Faked, Forged, Stolen, and Repatriated: Crimes Against Art  Watch November ’20 Live Stream
December 2020 Rice Bird Bobolink Jacqueline L. Scott, Black Outdoors, PhD student Live Stream recording processing 
George J. Mitchell Department of
Special Collection & Archives
Bowdoin College Library
3000 College Station · Brunswick ME 04011-8421
207-725-3288 · scaref@bowdoin.edu