Adopt-an-Audubon Plate sponsor benefits:

• Credit on the bird label whenever it is exhibited
• Recognition on the Museum’s digital donor board in the main lobby
• Museum individual plus membership for 2 years (maximum of 2 years)
• For adoptions of $6,000 or more, a copy of our 250^th anniversary book, The Charleston Museum: America’s First Museum
• For adoptions of $9,000 or more, an invitation to a private “behind the scenes” tour, for up to 4 people, of the Museum Archives and Collections Storeroom

For tax purposes, The Charleston Museum is recognized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization by the Internal revenue Service, and your gift may be tax deductible. Please consult your tax advisor for further information.

Our Adopt-an-Audubon Plate Program is a means to support the Museum’s Archives collections and should in no way be construed as obtaining an ownership interest in these collections.

Plate LXXXI

Fish Hawk, or Osprey
Drawn by Nature and Published by John J. Audubon
Engraved, Printed & Coloured by R. Havell

The motions of the Fish Hawk in the air are graceful, and as majestic as those of the Eagle.

When it plunges into the water in pursuit of a fish, it sometimes proceeds deep enough to disappear for an instant. The surf caused by its descent is so great as to make the spot around it present the appearance of a mass of foam. On rising with its prey, it is seen holding it in the manner represented in the Plate. It mounts a few yards into the air, shakes the water from its plumage, squeezes the fish with its talons, and immediately proceeds towards its nest, to feed its young, or to a tree, to devour the fruit of its industry in peace. When it has satisfied its hunger, it does not, like other Hawks, stay perched until hunger again urges it forth, but usually sails about at a great height over the neighbouring waters.

– John J. Audubon