Bird of Washington

Sea eagle invented by Audubon

The Bird of Washington as it appeared on plate 11 of The Birds of America

The Bird of Washington, Washington Eagle, or Great Sea Eagle (Falco washingtonii, F. washingtoniensis, F. washingtonianus, or Haliaetus washingtoni)[1] was a putative species of sea eagle which was claimed in 1826 and published by John James Audubon in his famous work The Birds of America. It is not now recognised as a valid species. Theories about its true nature include the following:[2]

* It was a juvenile specimen or subspecies of bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).
* It was an invention and that the picture was plagiarised from a picture of a golden eagle in Rees's Cyclopædia.
* It was actually a genuine species, but it was rare and became extinct after Audubon's sightings.

John James Audubon's painting of the bird was acquired by Sidney Dillon Ripley, and his family donated it to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1994.[3]

Other birds pictured by Audubon which are now disputed include Harris's hawk, the red-winged blackbird and Western meadowlark.[4]

## References

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1. ^ Strickland, H. E. (1855). Strickland, H. E.; Jardine, W. (eds.). Ornithological Synonyms. Vol. I. Accipitres. London: John van Voorst.
2. ^ Halley, Matthew R. (22 June 2020), "Audubon's Bird of Washington: unravelling the fraud that launched The birds of America", Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, 140 (2): 110–141, doi:10.25226/bboc.v140i2.2020.a3, S2CID 219970340
3. ^ Washington Sea Eagle, Smithsonian American Art Museum
4. ^ What is the real legacy of John James Audubon?, Bird Guides, 8 June 2020

## Further reading

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* Allen, J. A. 1870. "What is the ‘Washington Eagle'?" The American Naturalist 4: pp 524–527.
* Audubon, J. J. 1828. "Notes on the Bird of Washington (Fálco Washingtoniàna), or Great American Sea Eagle." Magazine of Natural History 1: pp 115–120.
* Maruna, S. 2006. "Substantiating Audubon's Washington Eagle." Ohio Cardinal 29: pp 140–150.

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