Birds of Wilson
What do you call that bright yellow bird with the olive back, black-black eyes, and black hat (or toupée)? A Yellow Warbler, right? Not exactly. It sure is cute as it sings and eats tiny insects right in front of your eyes.
There are lots of yellow warblers and they all look a little different. With over 35 sub-species of yellow warblers, they are ubiquitous, even one species dancing in the holly outside my office window. They are called by separate names: Hooded, Wilson’s, Yellow, Golden, Mangrove, etc. They live all over North American, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. I have some particular favorites.
What are your favorites?
The Wilson’s Warbler (Cardellina pusilla) is a small North American songbird. It is fun to watch in the trees and willow bushes at it eats its way through the day, pecking bugs from leaves and branches. It can also be spotted feeding on the ground.
Wilson? Who is Wilson?
So who is this guy Wilson, anyway? There are a few birds with his name out there, so he must have discovered a flock. The name of the warbler species with the black cap has remained “Wilson’s.” The little yellow bird is named after Alexander Wilson, who was a noted ornithologist. However, over the years the genus has changed from Wilsonia to Cardellina to Sylvania, before moving it back to Cardellina.
Alexander Wilson
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) was a man of many talents. He was heralded as a Scottish-American poet, naturalist, illustrator and ornithologist. He had also been dubbed the ‘Father of American Ornithology’ by fellow ornithologist, George Ord, for all of his great work studying native American birds.[1]
Wilson left his native Scotland in 1794, sailed to America to “change his fortunes,” and landed in Philadelphia, PA. He was 27 years old. Having apprenticed as a weaver in Scotland many years before, Wilson found a job teaching school at Milestown in East Oak Lane, Philadelphia.
Wilson apparently got into trouble with a married woman during his schoolteaching years, and he moved from school to school. That instability ended in 1802, when he took a teaching job at Gray’s Ferry, near William Bartram’s home and gardens.
Bartram encouraged Wilson to pursue his interests and to embrace three endeavors: bird watching, drawing and writing. Wilson was glad Bartram thoughtfully steered him toward birds and deeper into ornithology.[2]
After many birdwatching outings with Bertram and countless sketch sessions, Wilson made up his mind to boldly publish a book illustrating all the birds of North American. He traveled widely, observing and painting birds, and gathering subscribers for his upcoming book, or rather “books.” In his own summary, Wilson claimed fieldwork took him “from the shores of the St. Lawrence to the mouths of the Mississippi, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the interior of Louisiana.”
In total, he logged over 12,000 miles traveling to expand his bird research to the states in the Northeast and South, and territories in the Western parts of the U.S.
Wilson’s nine-volume works, American Ornithology were published between 1808-1814. This massive undertaking illustrated 268 bird species, including descriptions of 26 new species.[3]
Wilson also conducted the first breeding bird census in the U.S., in William Bartram’s backyard garden. The careful observation corrected earlier errors of taxonomy, and published many observations of bird and environmental natural history that have stood the test of time.
Sadly, Alexander Wilson died in 1813 at the age of 47. He never escaped poverty, because the costs of American Ornithology always ran ahead of the subscription income. Wilson’s final illustrated books had not been published, when he perished. One account mentions that he died “of dysentery, overwork, and chronic poverty.”
Wilson never married and had no children. Toward the end of his life, Wilson’s only social life and friendships were with the family of Jacob Miller, a wealthy landowner he had known since his years as a schoolteacher in Milestown, Pennsylvania. Wilson’s one close relationship was with Sarah Miller, the family’s daughter. She was fifteen years younger than he was.
Wilson was reportedly engaged to Sarah, and he left her everything he owned, including the rights to American Ornithology. Sarah Miller also served with George Ord as co-executor of his estate and together they sent the manuscripts and pictures to Samuel Bradford, who published all nine volumes.[4]
J.J. Audubon Connection
Wilson’s published works and lectures influenced many artists and encouraged budding ornithologists to expand their work. We often think of Audubon as the father of American ornithology, but that is not necessarily so. It is believed that Wilson’s meeting in 1810 with John J. Audubon probably inspired the young Audubon (25 years old at the time) to publish his own book on birds.
Few bird lovers had a greater impact on ornithology, however, than John J. Audubon (1785-1851). (For more on J.J. Audubon, see the Bird Post [5]).
After Alexander Wilson died (in 1813), John Audubon soon soaked up all of the accolades around birds. Audubon was then 28. He went on a writing and drawing spree that left a large swath of artwork and bird studies named for him. Audubon also had a massive portfolio of drawings. For the next many decades, the expertise of the bird world was widely attributed to Audubon.
It is interesting to note: Audubon was more likely to shoot a bird in order to study it, than to breed it, feed it, count it and/or sketch it in his back yard. Thus Audubon’s tactics for drawing and painting from taxidermy models were very different from Wilson’s approach.
We rarely hear about Wilson today, but his legacy is impressive and worthy or our attention.[6]
Wilson’s Legacy
His legacy lies in the common names. He discovered several important species of American birds which bear his last name: Wilson’s Storm Petrel, Wilson’s Plover, Wilson’s Phalarope[7], Wilson’s Snipe, and of course, Wilson’s Warbler.
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Footnotes:
[1] http://www.wilsonsociety.org/society/awilsoninfo.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] https://henryehooper.blog/birds-audubons-birds-of-america/
[6] Ob. sit. Wilson Society
[7] Two amateur ornithologists at the Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions, Brian Malcolm and Tim Lord, discovered a nest of Wilson’s Phalarope chicks in the marshes of Blue Water Lake in Northwestern New Mexico, outside of Thoreau. Their positive identification of the male, female and nesting site moved the breeding lines of this species hundreds of miles furthest west beyond its known nesting sites. Resident Ornithologist, Arch McCallum, authenticated the siting and the nesting pair and helped the boys write up their findings. They published a small article in American Birds Magazine. Brian and Tim were ‘over the moon‘ with excitement. Two more avid birders were thus added to the flock of human avian followers.
Appendices:
Alexander Wilson (1766–1813), the father of American ornithology, has lots of stories. He traveled more than 12,000 miles to observe, describe, and draw over 268 bird species, 36 of which had never been described before.
Birds Wilson Described or Named
- Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis). Wilson described it in 1811 as Falco mississippiensis in volume 3 of American Ornithology, and also gave it its English name after first seeing it in the Mississippi Territory.
- Tennessee Warbler (Leiothlypis peregrina), which he named after seeing it on migration.
- Nashville Warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla), which he first saw near Nashville in 1811 and named for the city.
- Wilson’s Warbler (Cardellina pusilla), described in 1811 as Muscicapa pusilla, from southern New Jersey.
- Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea), described in 1810. A year later he described the female as a separate species, Sylvia rara, by mistake.
- Bay-breasted Warbler (Setophaga castanea), described and illustrated in 1810 from Pennsylvania specimens.
- Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia), described in 1811 as Sylvia magnolia. He collected it during his May 1811 trip to the “Great Pine Swamp” in Pennsylvania.
- Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris), described in 1810 as Certhia palustris.
- Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus), Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus), and Connecticut Warbler (Oporornis agilis), all described in 1812.
- Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), described in 1811.
- Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana), described in 1811 as Tanagra ludoviciana from a specimen brought back by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
- American Goshawk (Accipiter atricapillus), described in 1812.
- Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina). George Ord collected the specimen on a trip with Wilson in May 1812. Wilson illustrated it and named it “Cape May Warbler,” Sylvia maritima, in volume 6. His English name stuck, but an earlier scientific name has priority.
- Kentucky Warbler (Geothlypis formosa), 1811. It appears on the same plate as the Mississippi Kite and Tennessee Warbler.
- Black-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus), 1811. It appears on plate 28, which is confirmed.
- Mourning Warbler (Geothlypis philadelphia), 1810.
- Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius), 1810.
- Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla), 1810.
- Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), 1810.
- Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus), 1810.
- Seaside Sparrow (Ammospiza maritima), 1811.
Birds Wilson Painted (or interacted with)
- Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis). Wilson painted it from a Lewis and Clark specimen, on the same plate as the Western Tanager and Clark’s Nutcracker. From my own knowledge, the scientific name was given later, by G. R. Gray in 1849.
- Wilson estimated a single Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) flock in Kentucky at more than two billion birds. He also traveled for a time with a wounded Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) he was trying to tame. Both species are now extinct.
- And there’s the story of a wounded Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) that Wilson kept in a hotel room in Wilmington, North Carolina. Without a cage, it nearly hammered its way through the hotel room wall.
Birds Named in Wilson’s Honor
- The genus Wilsonia, created by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1838 for Wilson’s Warbler. It’s now obsolete.
- Wilson’s Warbler. One state wildlife source claims Wilson named it after himself, but that’s misleading. The scientific name doesn’t honor him, and from my own knowledge, he called it the “Green, Black-capt Flycatcher”; “Wilson’s” was added later by others.
- Wilson’s Plover (Charadrius wilsonia, named by Ord in 1814).
- Wilson’s Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor).
- Wilson’s Snipe (Gallinago delicata).
- Wilson’s Storm-Petrel (Oceanites oceanicus).
Written Works by Wilson
- Wilson, Alexander. American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States: Illustrated with Plates Engraved and Colored from Original Drawings Taken from Nature. 9 vols., Philadelphia, 1808–1814.
- —. “The Foresters: A Poem, Descriptive of a Pedestrian Journey to the Falls of Niagara, in the Autumn of 1804.” The Port Folio, 1809–10.
- —. Poems. Paisley, 1790.
- —. Rab and Ringan: A Tale, as Delivered in the Pantheon, Edinburgh, by the Author of Watty and Meg; to Which Is Added The Twa Cats and the Cheese, a Tale. [Paisley], [c. 1792].
- —. Watty and Meg; or, The Wife Reformed. [Paisley], 1792.
- Wilson, Alexander, and Charles Lucien Bonaparte. American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States. Edited by Sir William Jardine, 3 vols., London, 1832.
- Wilson, Alexander, and George Ord. American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States. 2nd ed., Philadelphia, 1828–29.
Works Wilson Edited
- Rees, Abraham. The Cyclopaedia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature. 1st American ed., Philadelphia, 1806–20.
- In 1806 Wilson quit teaching and became an assistant editor for the publishers Bradford and Inskeep on their American edition of Rees’s Cyclopaedia. That job led Samuel Bradford to publish American Ornithology.
Collections and Biographies of Wilson
- Hunter, Clark, editor. The Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson. American Philosophical Society, 1983.
- Cantwell, Robert. Alexander Wilson: Naturalist and Pioneer. J. B. Lippincott, 1961.
- Grosart, Alexander B., editor. The Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander Wilson, the American Ornithologist. 2 vols., Paisley, 1876.
