John James Audubon, Artist and Naturalist

John James Audubon was the illegitimate son of a sea captain and a servant girl on a sugar plantation in Haiti. His mother died when he was not yet a year old. When he was a boy he enjoyed wandering through the woods, collecting things from nature, and watching the birds. He began to draw pictures of birds and animals. He taught himself through trial and error specializing in birds.
Audubon was the first person to start bird-banding studies in America. He tied lightweight strings to their legs, and he could track their travels as they nested, left the area, and then returned to the nest.