Ivory Billed Woodpecker Fine Art Bird Print by Audubon

An archival premium Quality art Print of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker by John James Audubon for sale by Brandywine General Store. In this painting the artist features a male and two female ivory billed woodpeckers all perched in a dead tree that is covered with moss. The male and one female are both after the same beetle while the other female is boring a hole in the tree with wood flying around her. The male has a beautiful odd shaped red head which Audubon says was a highly prized ornament for Indian Chiefs and were also coveted by Europeans, who would pay good money for a nice red head from this woodpecker. This picture was drawn by the noted ornithologist for his book, The Birds of America which was published in the first half of the 19th century. These birds were plate or picture number 66 in the 1st Havell edition. Picus Principalis - Audubon describes the ivory billed woodpeckers in his book thus "I have always imagined, that in the plumage of the beautiful Ivory-billed Woodpecker, there is something very closely allied to the style of colouring of the great VANDYKE. The broad extent of its dark glossy body and tail, the large and well-defined white markings of its wings, neck, and bill, relieved by the rich carmine of the pendent crest of the male, and the brilliant yellow of its eye, have never failed to remind me of some of the boldest and noblest productions of that inimitable artist’s pencil. So strongly indeed have these thoughts become ingrated in my mind, as I gradually obtained a more intimate acquaintance with the Ivory billed Woodpecker, that whenever I have observed one of these birds flying from one tree to another, I have mentally exclaimed, “There goes a Vandyke!” This notion may seem strange, perhaps ludicrous, to you, good reader, but I relate it as a fact, and whether or not it may be found in accordance with your own ideas, after you have inspected the plate in which is represented this splendid species of the Woodpecker tribe, is perhaps of little consequence. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker confines its rambles to a comparatively very small portion of the United States, it never having been observed in the Middle States within the memory of any person now living there. In fact, in no portion of these districts does the nature of the woods appear suitable to its remarkable habits. Descending the Ohio, we meet with this splendid bird for the first time near the confluence of that beautiful river and the Mississippi; after which, following the windings of the latter, either downwards toward the sea, or upwards in the direction of the Missouri, we frequently observe it. On the Atlantic coast, North Carolina may be taken as the limit of its distribution, although now and then an individual of the species may be accidentally seen in Maryland. To the westward of the Mississippi, it is found in all the dense forests bordering the streams which empty their waters into that majestic river, from the very declivities of the Rocky Mountains. The lower parts of the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, are, however, the most favourite resorts of this bird, and in those States it constantly resides, breeds, and passes a life of peaceful enjoyment, finding a profusion of food in all the deep, dark, and gloomy swamps dispersed throughout them...." Audubon bird print #66