John James Audubon

John James Audubon came to the United States to dodge the draft. And in the three years he lived at Mill Grove in Montgomery County, he found his lifelong love and perfected a hobby that years later would make him America's most famous avian artist and first birder. Mill Grove and Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary, now owned by the county, will hold a free celebration of its most famous resident's 214th birthday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow. The party will include a cake, a native plant and bake sale, guided walks, and storytelling.

For a little less than three years, John James Audubon was a resident of Mill Grove in Montgomery County. There he developed the skills that made him a master painter of birds. He also found the love of his life, and began the journey that transformed him from a man without a country to an American. These are some of the major themes Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Richard Rhodes developed in his new biography, John James Audubon: The Making of an American. Audubon was born in 1785 on the island of Saint-Domingue, the present-day Haiti.

What there is to see: The property contains a 1762 stone house, a bank barn, and 67 acres of open space. Visitors will learn about the life of celebrated bird expert John James Audubon as they stroll through the house and grounds. Interpretive vignettes depict his work studios. Mounted birds and mammals offer visitors a glimpse of the creatures Audubon studied and painted. Standout pieces include The Eagle and the Lamb, a painting Audubon did to pay for the production of his famous book, Birds of America.

IN THE SPRING of 1824, John James Audubon arrived in Philadelphia. He came from New Orleans in search of a publisher for his illustrations of America's birds. The artist found fans in the city, but no engraver willing to undertake the project. Audubon had also been nominated for membership in the Academy of Natural Sciences, the nation's pre-eminent scientific body of the time. He was rejected. What a difference 183 years make. Audubon eventually found a publisher in Europe, and the drawings he brought to Philadelphia were collected as The Birds of America . These images are now among the most famous and valuable works of American art. Today, The Birds of America , bound in five volumes, occupies a prominent place in the academy's library as one of fewer than 120 intact editions that remain from the original 200 Audubon made.

For more than half a century, scholars and biographers of famed bird artist and ornithologist John James Audubon had been stumped. In an 1824 diary entry, the young French immigrant, who lived for several years at Mill Grove in Montgomery County, mentioned that he had given a drawing of a running grouse to a Philadelphia engraver for use on a New Jersey banknote. It would have been a key moment - the first published illustration for the struggling artist, then 29 years old. But if so, where was it?

A Chicago art dealer in possession of about 40 stolen Audubon bird prints has agreed to return the artworks to the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans. The prints would be the first of 60 works by John James Audubon, allegedly stolen by a museum volunteer, to be returned as part of delicate negotiations between dealers and the Louisiana attorney general's office, which represents the museum. Louisiana State Police allege that Michael Moskaluk stole the Audubons, whose worth is estimated at between $750,000 and $1.5 million, and 40 other artworks from the museum in late 1989 and then sold them to dealers in Chicago, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia and France between December and March.

He was a scientist, gentleman farmer, philanthropist, and founder of a literary society. He was an adventurer and sportsman - and twice accompanied famed painter and fellow ornithologist John James Audubon on expeditions, including a memorable journey up the Missouri River in 1843. Edward Harris Jr. might not be a household name today, but the Moorestown native is well known by town history buffs who see him as their local version of Ben Franklin. Harris' bird collection and journal descriptions of flora and fauna, native American tribesmen, and buffalo hunts paint a vivid picture of 19th-century North America and are still studied by ornithologists, naturalists, and historians.

The light-bulb nose and electric-outlet ears help identify Reddy Kilowatt, the symbol used by many power companies and a trademark figure sought by collectors. Reddy was created by Ashton B. Collins in the late 1920s. Collins, the story goes, saw four flashes of lightning and thought they resembled the arms and legs of a person. More than 200 companies use or have used Reddy Kilowatt in their promotional material. Kites, dolls, posters, pamphlets, signs, cigarette lighters, earrings and tie tacks can be found with the symbol.

Shawneen Finnegan described the sight as simply heartbreaking. There, on the side of a Cape May County roadway, a group of American woodcocks huddled together, dying of cold and starvation. "It was really awful," Finnegan, a professional birder, said of the scene she filmed Jan. 28. "I found two of them leaning up against each other to keep warm, but they were dead. " It's called a "die-off. " It was caused by the recent ice storms and cold snap that turned the ground at the Shore rock hard and kept it that way for days.

Every year for 17 years, as officials in Montgomery County prepared to draw up the annual budget, Edward Graham, curator of the Mill Grove historic site in Audubon, sat down with the commissioners and finance director to describe what he needed and why. And in each of those years, Graham says, he came away with what he wanted, or at least firm assurances that the needs of the 173-acre wildlife sanctuary, museum and former home of nature artist...

At 3:15 p.m., Bridget Clancy's big moment had come. The librarian slipped on white cotton gloves and eased open the glass lid. Underneath was a massive book that is considered one of the great works of American scientific art, John James Audubon's Birds of America . At the moment, the page showed spotted sandpipers. But a new page was about to be revealed. Buckingham Palace has its changing of the guard. On weekdays, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University has its turning of the page.

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway 215-299-1000 www.ansp.org Hours: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Audubon pages turned at 3:15 p.m. weekdays. Admission: $12; $10 ages 3-12, seniors, college students and military personnel; children under 3, free. Additional $2 for "Butterflies!" John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove 1201 Pawlings Road Audubon, Pa. 610-666-5593, http://pa.audubon.org/ centers_mill_grove.html Hours: Museum, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Sunday.

IN THE SPRING of 1824, John James Audubon arrived in Philadelphia. He came from New Orleans in search of a publisher for his illustrations of America's birds. The artist found fans in the city, but no engraver willing to undertake the project. Audubon had also been nominated for membership in the Academy of Natural Sciences, the nation's pre-eminent scientific body of the time. He was rejected. What a difference 183 years make. Audubon eventually found a publisher in Europe, and the drawings he brought to Philadelphia were collected as The Birds of America . These images are now among the most famous and valuable works of American art. Today, The Birds of America , bound in five volumes, occupies a prominent place in the academy's library as one of fewer than 120 intact editions that remain from the original 200 Audubon made.

For more than half a century, scholars and biographers of famed bird artist and ornithologist John James Audubon had been stumped. In an 1824 diary entry, the young French immigrant, who lived for several years at Mill Grove in Montgomery County, mentioned that he had given a drawing of a running grouse to a Philadelphia engraver for use on a New Jersey banknote. It would have been a key moment - the first published illustration for the struggling artist, then 29 years old. But if so, where was it?

In the hope of spurring economic development in disparate parts of Montgomery County, commissioners approved a $2 million loan Thursday for a Norristown business center and a $3 million grant for enhancements to conservationist John James Audubon's Lower Providence Township house. The loan to a Norristown developer for renovations to the sagging Logan Square shopping center followed a $1.9 million county grant awarded in September to USM, a janitorial-services company moving its North American headquarters into the complex.

He was a scientist, gentleman farmer, philanthropist, and founder of a literary society. He was an adventurer and sportsman - and twice accompanied famed painter and fellow ornithologist John James Audubon on expeditions, including a memorable journey up the Missouri River in 1843. Edward Harris Jr. might not be a household name today, but the Moorestown native is well known by town history buffs who see him as their local version of Ben Franklin. Harris' bird collection and journal descriptions of flora and fauna, native American tribesmen, and buffalo hunts paint a vivid picture of 19th-century North America and are still studied by ornithologists, naturalists, and historians.

What there is to see: The property contains a 1762 stone house, a bank barn, and 67 acres of open space. Visitors will learn about the life of celebrated bird expert John James Audubon as they stroll through the house and grounds. Interpretive vignettes depict his work studios. Mounted birds and mammals offer visitors a glimpse of the creatures Audubon studied and painted. Standout pieces include The Eagle and the Lamb, a painting Audubon did to pay for the production of his famous book, Birds of America.

For a little less than three years, John James Audubon was a resident of Mill Grove in Montgomery County. There he developed the skills that made him a master painter of birds. He also found the love of his life, and began the journey that transformed him from a man without a country to an American. These are some of the major themes Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Richard Rhodes developed in his new biography, John James Audubon: The Making of an American. Audubon was born in 1785 on the island of Saint-Domingue, the present-day Haiti.

John James Audubon, the pioneering naturalist, hasn't received sufficient credit for what he achieved as an artist. A splendid Audubon exhibition at the Reading Public Museum helps to correct that oversight. Curated by museum director Ronald C. Roth, the exhibition focuses on the period during the early 19th century when Audubon lived in the Philadelphia region, first in what is now Audubon, Pa., west of Norristown, and later in Camden. Roth's show gracefully combines historical and ornithological information with aesthetic pleasure.

The National Audubon Society will make Mill Grove, the first American home of wildlife artist John James Audubon, a national tourism destination under a new agreement with Montgomery County, the county commissioners said. The commissioners yesterday agreed to lease to the society more than a third of the 175-acre Mill Grove at Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary in Lower Providence Township. The 50-year lease will include the 1762 farmhouse and barn and an art collection estimated to be worth at least $10 million, and it will require that the Audubon Society build a $5 million art gallery and visitors' center.