Carolina Parrot (Primary Title)
The Birds of America (Portfolio Title)
Carolina Parrots, from The Birds of America (Former Title)
John James Audubon, American, born Haiti, 1785–1851 (Artist)
John James Audubon will forever be associated with nature conservation—particularly the study and preservation of birds. In the 1810s, he embarked on an extraordinary mission to observe and draw every bird species in America. Beginning in 1827, the English firm R. Havell and Son reproduced Audubon’s detailed watercolors as large folio prints. The ambitious Birds of America series took eleven years to complete and resulted in 435 separate images.
The colorful Carolina parakeet, pictured here, was once a common sight in the American landscape, traveling in large flocks between New York and the Gulf of Mexico. Yet by 1832, Audubon noted a sharp decline in the parakeet population, estimating it was reduced by half in the previous fifteen years. A century later, the Carolina parakeet was declared extinct, and Audubon’s precise depiction remains one of the most important records of this formerly familiar bird.
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.