Daytona exhibit gives a stunning look at Florida birdlife

John James Audubon explored Florida from 1831 to 1832, searching for new birds to draw. Like so many visitors and newcomers before and since, he found the place was not what he expected.

Having avidly read William Bartram’s accounts of Florida from a generation earlier, Audubon expected something more gardenlike, more like Tahiti and less like Haw Creek. Instead, he found himself trudging through seemingly endless swamps. He had his boat stuck in the Tomoka River. He found himself attacked by clouds of insects, and he was stunned by the heat of Key West.

Florida may have been a hot, swampy wilderness in the 1830s, but it was a hot, swampy wilderness teeming with birds. Audubon recorded 52 bird species in Florida and included portraits of 37 of them among the 435 bird species showcased in his masterpiece, “Birds of America.”

Those bird prints with their hand-colored, exotic Florida backdrops intrigued European print collectors and naturalists and helped make “Birds of America” a publishing and artistic success. And they are on display at the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art through March 2, 2025. It’s not something to miss.

You’ve undoubtedly seen pictures of Audubon’s bird prints at some point, maybe a book or a calendar. But seeing the originals up close is an entirely difference experience. The colors are still vibrant, and then there’s the size. Audubon strove to draw the birds life-size, and some of these were big birds, like the flamingo, roseate spoonbill and great blue heron. The answer was to make these prints on the largest size paper print-making equipment could then handle, called “double elephant,” about 39 inches long. Even so, Audubon drew these large birds bent over to fit into the frame.

Besides the bigger, more striking, more exotic birds, Audubon did not neglect the common birds that might still be found in a Florida yard — cardinals, mockingbirds, blue jays and titmice. The exhibit also includes prints of birds that have since gone extinct, like the passenger pigeon and the Carolina parrot. Birds that are endangered or threatened, like the whooping crane, reddish egret and Florida scrub-jay. And birds that Audubon spotted in Volusia County, like the brown pelican in what is now Port Orange and the glossy ibis seen by Lake Woodruff. Also, be sure to stop at the picture of the greater yellowlegs (which Audubon called a greenshank, but never mind), which has St. Augustine’s waterfront and the Castillo de San Marcos as a familiar backdrop.

Like any birdwatching trip, it helps to have a knowledgeable guide, and audio tour players are available that feature the voice of Clay Henderson, president emeritus of the Florida Audubon Society and former Volusia County Council member (1986-1992).

Henderson also wrote the book associated with the exhibit, “Audubon’s Birds of Florida.” Writing a book like that demands a knowledge of 19th-century printing technology, art history, ornithology, as well as Florida ecology, history and literature. It helps, too, if you’ve canoed and hiked here. Henderson has a background in all these areas. The tour and book enhance an already magnificent exhibit.

Audubon was able to make his trip at a fortuitous time. A pause between Seminole Indian wars, a time when the Census recorded only about 35,000 people in the state. He left us a visual record of what Florida wildlife looked like when the place was a sparsely inhabited frontier. Before all the hunters, settlers and tourists trooped in with guns, before the railroads and dredges arrived.

And especially well before the bird-feather trade threatened to wipe out many bird species. We almost lost the snowy egret and great egret. Who could have guessed that a fashion trend in women’s hats could prove so environmentally destructive? Organizing against the plume trade at the turn of the last century led to the formation of the Audubon Society.

I’ll be returning to the Audubon’s Birds of Florida exhibit sometime soon. One visit was not enough.

Mark Lane is a News-Journal columnist. His email is mlanewrites@gmail.com.