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This is BirdNote.
In the first decade of the 1800s, when the young John James Audubon first started roaming the vast young United States, he encountered what seemed to him a pristine wilderness. But by 1829, as he traveled the Mississippi by steamboat, he wrote with the sobering voice of an early conservationist:
“When I reflect that all this grand portion of our Union, instead of being in a state of nature, is now more or less covered with villages, farms, [and] towns ... I remember that these extraordinary changes have all taken place in the short period of twenty years.”
As Audubon watched, the natural landscape of the country had been upended, as pioneers moved west and settlements expanded.
But by 1898, early environmentalists had established nearly twenty state-level conservation societies in Audubon’s name. They led the charge to establish the country’s first national wildlife refuge, called Pelican Island, in Florida. And in 1905, the National Audubon Society was formed.
Today, there are nearly 500 local Audubon chapters advocating on behalf of birds nationwide. Regular people coming together to protect the birds they love.
For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann
Series
BirdNote
Episode
What Audubon Saw
Producing Organization
BirdNote
Contributing Organization
BirdNote (Seattle, Washington)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip-767a38a59a0
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Description
Episode Description
Over the course of John James Audubon’s life, even in the 1800s, he noticed how quickly people were changing the wilderness. Today, hundreds of local, state and national Audubon societies fight for birds and the environment in his name.
Created Date
2019-08-21
Asset type
Episode
Topics
Science
Subjects
Birds
Rights
Sounds were provided by the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Xeno-Canto, Martyn Stewart, Chris Peterson, John Kessler, and others. Where music was used, fair use was taken into consideration. Individual credits are found at the bottom of each transcript.
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:01:45.195
Embed Code
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Credits
Copyright Holder: BirdNote
Producing Organization: BirdNote
Writer: Sundstrom, Bob
AAPB Contributor Holdings
BirdNote
Identifier: cpb-aacip-0c39e6769f8 (Filename)
Format: Hard Drive
Generation: Master: preservation
Duration: 00:01:45
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
Citations
Chicago: “BirdNote; What Audubon Saw,” 2019-08-21, BirdNote, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed July 8, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-767a38a59a0.
MLA: “BirdNote; What Audubon Saw.” 2019-08-21. BirdNote, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. July 8, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-767a38a59a0>.
APA: BirdNote; What Audubon Saw. Boston, MA: BirdNote, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-767a38a59a0