Bird of Washington
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The Bird of Washington, Washington Eagle or Great Sea Eagle (Falco washingtonii or Falco washingtoniensis) 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:[1]
- that it was an juvenile specimen or sub-species of bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
- that it was an invention and that the picture was plagiarised from a picture of a golden eagle in Rees's Cyclopædia
- that it was actually a genuine species but that it was rare and became extinct after Audubon's sightings
References
- ^ 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
Further reading
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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