Bird of Washington

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
The Bird of Washington as it appeared on plate 11 of The Birds of America

References
  1. 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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