The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean · Sam Kean, Bleav
The Bird that Made John James Audubon a Legend
October 21, 2025·19 min·1 clip
John James Audubon stalked and shot a rare eagle he called the 'bird of Washington' near a hog slaughter pen.
As heard by us
A roadside eagle becomes a study in ambition and scientific fame.
An eagle on a Kentucky road opens into a bigger account of how John James Audubon made himself impossible to ignore. It begins with the bird, the hog pen, the rifle, and the good luck of finding the rarer species after two empty years, then uses that scene to frame ambition and…
Why you'd press play
You want the roadside kill that helped launch Audubon's fame.
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