Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/07/22/audobons-birds-of-america-ar.html
…
3 Likes
Neat. I’ve seen one of the real book as the Linda Hall Science Library.
Their interface is klunky and tedious. I wish these were available as a high-res batch.
I was disappointed in the lack of a batch as well. I hate Web 2.whatever gui containers. Checking the page source, it appears the full res are stored like https://www.audubon.org/sites/default/files/styles/boa_hero/public/boa_illustration/boa/plate-337-american-bittern.jpg I’m willing to bet that you can replace the plate number (found on the species description page) and the species name with a Python script to scrape them.
1 Like
I first heard about this in October, when Finder tells me I created a file of a particular bird. I was wondering where I heard about it, so on a hunch I searched…
One for the duplicates thread, I guess, @beschizza
Bird-lovers sometimes forget that Audobon shot every bird he painted to get a closer look at their plumage and propped their corpses up with wires. He was undoubtedly the master of his craft though.
5 Likes
I once heard on a tour at the Audubon House in Key West that the society was created to protect all the birds from Audubon himself. I’m sure it was a bit tongue in cheek, but your comment reminded me that he did do a lot of killing.
6 Likes
Here’s a list of the URLs:
urls-only.csv (27.4 KB)
Nice pull. I didn’t expect the spurious capitalization of “Plate” or the "%2C"s tossed in there.
He was originally interested in human portraiture but strong public condemnation of his initial efforts resulted in his forcible emigration to the Americas and, ultimately, a decision to direct his choice in corpses to the ornithological.
Or not. Or maybe. Or NOT, okay? Probably. Anyway, yeah, before the advent of good cheap binoculars in the late 1800’s bird-watching was commonly done with a shotgun. Which explains early field marks – red-bellied woodpecker is my favorite – which are only apparent during post-mortem examination.
1 Like
…also, “-final.jpg” and “-working.jpg” ?! 
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
