Audubon lived from 1785 to 1851, and over the course of a lifetime roamed across a still very wild America to paint hundreds of its birds.
Audubon became the chosen symbol for a movement begun in the late 1890s to stop the unrestricted slaughter of birds.
Their activism fledged a broader conservation movement and eventually led to passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918.
The act ended trade in migratory birds, and was among the first federal protections ever afforded to wildlife.
Through a diversity of approaches, Audubon organizations today carry on the conservation ethic begun at the turn of the 20th century.