The First Lady of American Ornithology - Florence Merriam Bailey
By Bhavana Padiyath, GEAS Guest Blogger
If you consider yourself a birder, you might want to thank Florence Merriam Bailey. Known as the first lady of American ornithology, Bailey was a prolific writer and scientific illustrator whose publications popularized the hobby of bird watching. She was also an effective conservationist and witty critic of the male-dominated scientific arena.
“Like other ladies, the little feathered brides have to bear their husbands’ names, however inappropriate. What injustice! Here an innocent creature with an olive-green back and yellowish breast has to go about all her days known as the black-throated blue warbler, just because that happens to describe the dress of her spouse!”
Florence Merriam was born in 1863 during the Civil war to a prominent family of naturalists in Locust Grove, New York. She grew up with a deep love and appreciation for nature, and spent much of her childhood exploring the Adirondack Mountains near her family's home with her siblings.
Her informal home-schooling in science and ornithology helped her enroll in Smith College as a “special student” between 1882 and 1886. While there, she (along with Fanny Hardy) created a chapter of the Audubon Society in the District of Columbia to foster conservation efforts and discourage the abuse of birds through fashion.
She grew up during an era when birds were studied, not in their natural habitats, but in laboratories after they were shot, skinned, stuffed and mounted for display. Moreover, nearly five million birds were slaughtered each year for their plumage, in service of the women’s hat industry.
“We won't say too much about the hats. We’ll take the girls afield, and let them get acquainted with the birds. Then of inborn necessity, they will wear feathers never more,” she wrote in Bird Lore
Hat with ostrich and egret feathers. Credit Jaclyn Nash
By the time she left Smith in 1886, one-third of the student body was involved in the Society. Fourteen years later, the Lacey Act (1900) prohibited trade in illegally acquired wildlife, followed by the Federal Bird Migratory Treaty Act (1918) to protect migratory birds.
In 1886 she volunteered at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where she worked as an assistant to Robert Ridgway, who was a prominent American ornithologist and was the curator of birds at the United States National Museum in Washington, D.C. This experience shaped her understanding of bird taxonomy and classification.
Birding for the Layperson
In 1889, Bailey published her first book, Birds Through an Opera Glass. It was the first illustrated birding field guide, written for the layperson, rather than the scientific community, and helped to popularize bird-watching as a hobby.
“When going to watch birds, proceed to some good birdy place — the bushy bank of a stream or an old juniper pasture — and sit down in the undergrowth or against a concealing tree-trunk, with your back to the sun, to look and listen in silence.”
Bailey's writing was exquisitely engaging and her descriptions of birds and their behaviors were vivid and informative.
Of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird she said:
“Her nest is the most exquisite of all the beautiful structures of winged architects, her domestic life and ways of caring for her young among the most original and curious. Surely the patience of the bird-lover should be equal to the task of discovering her home. When found, it proves to be, like its builder, the smallest of its kind, a thimble of plant-down, coated with delicate green lichen, formed and decorated with wonderful skill, and saddled so dexterously to a bough that it would seem but a part of the tree itself.”
Bailey was a prolific writer. Over the course of her career, she wrote more than 100 journal articles and several seminal books, including Handbook of Birds of the Western United States" (1902) and Birds of New Mexico (1928).
Bailey also worked as a scientific illustrator, using her artistic talents to create detailed drawings of birds and other wildlife.
Bailey's illustrations were primarily black and white, and were often used to accompany her written descriptions of bird species. She was known for her meticulous attention to detail, and her drawings captured the subtle nuances of bird plumage and anatomy.
First Woman Member of the American Ornithologist Union
Bailey's contributions to ornithology and conservation were widely recognized during her lifetime. She received numerous awards and honors, including honorary degrees from Smith College in 1921, Mount Holyoke College in 1923, and an honorary doctorate from the University of New Mexico. She was elected a fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union in 1929 and awarded the Brewster Medal in 1931 for her pioneering contributions to the field.
A subspecies of mountain chickadee (Parus gambeli baileyae) was named Mrs. Bailey’s Chickadee in her honor in 1908.
Florence and her husband, Vernon Bailey, worked tirelessly through their fieldwork and activism to raise awareness about the threats facing birds and other wildlife. Florence Bailey was a mentor to many and a pioneer in making birding accessible to non-scientists. Her legacy continues to inspire and educate people about the beauty and wonder of the natural world.
Photo by Yathin (Creative Commons 2.0).