Bird of Washington

The Bird of Washington, Washington Eagle or Great Sea Eagle (Falco washingtonii, F. washingtoniensis, F. washingtonianus, or Haliaetus washingtoni^[1]) 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 now not recognised as a valid species. Theories about its true nature include the following:^[2]

• It was a juvenile specimen or sub-species of bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).
• It was an invention and that the picture was plagiarised from a picture of a golden eagle in Rees's Cyclopædia.
• It was actually a genuine species, but 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

John James Audubon's painting of the bird was acquired by Sidney Dillon Ripley, and his family donated it to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1994.^[3]

References

1. Strickland, H. E. (1855). Strickland, H. E.; Jardine, W. (eds.). Ornithological Synonyms. Vol. I. Accipitres. London: John van Voorst.
2. 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
3. Washington Sea Eagle, HomeSmithsonian American Art Museum

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.