Birds of a Feather: Audubon & Space

Since the beginning of time, humans have looked at the sky and wondered about its secrets. Long before space exploration was even a glimmer in anyone’s imagination, we gazed above and wondered what it would be like to fly. When you see a flock of birds gracefully soaring among the clouds, do you ever wonder how it would feel to be one of them?


We owe much of our knowledge about birds to Mr. John James Audubon, and because today is his birthday, we’re honoring him on the Space Log Blog. Audubon was born in 1785 and his legacy is still going strong, through the establishment of the Audubon Society. Audubon was an ornithologist, naturalist and painter who identified birds and painted them in such great detail, it was like looking at a photograph.

Pioneers of flight, the Wright brothers observed birds and explored how their wings worked while they were developing their first flying machine. It might even be said that because of Audubon’s explorations in ornithology, the Wright brothers were able to learn more about what it meant to fly and this ultimately paved the way for space flight. So maybe it isn’t such a stretch to honor Mr. Audubon here after all!

Happy Birthday John James Audubon! Thanks for the knowledge and discovery you inspired!

{image of White Gerfalcons via Wikimedia Commons, 2nd image Google Doodle}