"The Grayish Saltator" - Series I. Plate No II by Don R. Eckelberry

This edition was first published in 1968 and is initialed by the artist.

Print size 26 x 22"

I once described the Grayish Saltator, which is a cardinal-sized tropical finch, as having a scratchy Edison phonograph voice. It is shown here singing in a flowering Swamp Immortelle just as I saw it about a week before capturing the bird in a mist net so that I could paint it . The scene stuck in my mind, as many pictures do, because I liked the colors together. Both the gray-green leaves and the salmon colored flowers of the Swamp Immortelle have a soft dusty look which fitted very well with my big grayish “sparrow."

- Don Eckelberry

Don Eckelberry (1921-2001) was a major player throughout the era of the illustrated field guide. Of his 14 books, the most widely recognized are probably Richard H. Pough's series of Audubon Bird Guides (1946-57) for which the artist produced 1,250 images. Another multi-volume production is Brown and Amadon's Eagles, Hawks and Falcons of the World sponsored by the National Audubon Society.