Florida Cormorant by John James Audubon art print

An archival premium Quality art Print of the Florida Cormorant by John James Audubon for sale by Brandywine General Store. The artwork features a lone adult male bird in its bright spring plumage setting on the top of a rotten branch that is submerged in the water, he is hollering, most likely warning all his mates. Audubon drew this picture in the Florida Keys around the year 1832, there are numerous little islands all around and all are full of Florida Cormorants with these examples barely noticeable. This large showy bird was plate or picture number 252 in the 1st Havell edition of the great ornitholgy book, The Birds of America. This drawing was engraved, printed and colored by R. Havell in London in 1835.

Carbo Floridanus - Mr. Audubon describes the Florida Cormorant thus "The Florida Cormorant seldom goes far out to sea, but prefers the neighbourhood of the shores, being found in the bays, inlets, and large rivers. I never met with one at a greater distance from land than five miles. It is at all seasons gregarious, although it is not always found in large flocks. The birds of this species never suffer others of the same genus to resort to their breeding places, although they sometimes associate with individuals belonging to different genera. The P. Carbo appropriates to itself the upper shelves of the most rugged and elevated rocks, whose bases are washed by the sea; P. dilophus breeds on flat rocky islands at some distance from the shores of the mainland; and the Florida Cormorant nestles on trees. In the many breeding places of all these species which I have visited, I never found individuals of one intermingled with those of another, although the Large Cormorant did not seem averse from having the Peregrine Falcon in its vicinity, while the Double-crested allowed a few Gannets or Guillemots to nestle beside it, and the Florida Cormorant associated with Herons, Frigate Pelicans, Grakles, or Pigeons. On the Mississippi, in the month of October, when the temperature is considerably lower than in the Floridas, you see these birds during the day standing in their usual inclined position, on the sawyers and planters, as if resting there--so at least was the case in the autumn of 1820,--or on the dead branches of trees along the shores. In cloudy days they sailed high in the air, and in wide circles, after which, if aware of cold weather being at hand, they swiftly followed in long lines the meandering course of the stream, at a considerable elevation. While sailing aloft, they frequently uttered a note not unlike that of the Raven in similar circumstances....." Audubon bird print #252