Google users will have noticed that the standard Google logo has been replaced today with a Doodle to mark the 226th birthday of John James Audubon, a man celebrated as a world famous ornithologist, naturalist, painter and believe it or not hunter (it seems hunting and nature can go hand in hand).
The Doodle
Like previous Doodle’s the eagled eyed amongst you will notice that the letter shapes that make up Google remain intact, they are simply made up with branches filled with illustrations of various species of birds. There is even a butterfly in the very centre of the Doodle.
About John James Audubon
John James Audubon was born in 1785 in Haiti, which at the time this was called Saint Domingue. His interest in nature and birding came from his stepmother who raised Audubon until the age of 18 when he was sent to Philadelphia to avoid being drafted into the French army. Whilst at the family mill in Philadelphia he started tagging birds with string to prove that some birds nest in the same place each year.
Whilst in Philadelphia he met his wife and fathered two children before taking a long boat trip down the Mississippi river to record species of birds by description and drawing them. After his mammoth trip he sailed to England to present his work which formed the basis for the ‘American Woodsman’ which forms the basis for modern ornithological books.
Audubon died in 1851 at the age of 65, he enjoyed his work and it has since been honoured with a society that bears his name and of course today’s Doodle.
