Welcome!
The Birds of Shakespeare is a growing, accessible guide to the rich intersection between Shakespeare and ornithology. This evolving collection aims to catalog every bird mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays and poems—at least 65 species.
Every other month, a new bird is introduced through a painting and an accompanying essay that explores its role in Shakespeare’s world and its broader early modern cultural significance.
The artwork and research are shared annually through exhibitions and presentations. Visit the News tab to learn about upcoming events.
The Birds of Shakespeare is an independent project created and maintained by Missy Dunaway.
Researching Shakespeare’s Birds
Finding birds in Shakespeare's writing is one puzzle and understanding the significance of each bird is another. I am investigating 16th and 17th-century folklore and naturalist beliefs that may have shaped how each species was perceived by the playwright and his audiences. I am also collecting early modern scientific illustrations and reading the work of scholars who analyze Shakespeare's relationship to the natural world.
I want my paintings to offer natural science facts in addition to literary interpretation. All illustrations of feathers, eggs, and nests are carefully measured and rendered at life-size, and eggs are numbered in average clutch size. I utilize recent publications from reputable ornithological institutes for my avian research. My bibliography provides a detailed list of my primary references.
Sources and Advisors
My project was awarded Folger Institute Artist-in-Residence Research Fellowships in 2021 and 2024, and I am maintaining a conversation with the Folger Shakespeare Library's knowledgeable network of librarians and scholars. My research heavily relies on the Folger Shakespeare Library's immense rare book collection and Digital Image Collection, which is generously made public through their website.
The master lists of Shakespeare's birds and plants were gathered before me by James Edmund Harting and Henry Nicholson Ellacombe, respectively. I cross-reference each species with opensourceshakespeare.org, pointing me to every word's exact location in Shakespeare's plays and poems. Finally, I read the play to confirm and examine the species' presence.
My paintings are reviewed by three advisors: Haylie Swenson, a Shakespearean scholar specializing in naturalism; Cody Deane, an avian ecologist who corrects the anatomy of my bird renderings; and Harriet Rix, a botanist who revises my plant illustrations.
The Birds of Shakespeare reflects scholars' research through the centuries, paired with precise ornithological data. My contribution is curating these materials and visually communicating the information through art. My bibliography provides a detailed list of my primary research materials.
Shakespeare’s Plants
As a bonus, the complete collection of paintings will include every plant mentioned by Shakespeare. My earliest compositions coincidentally included many of Shakespeare's plants to reference avian habitats, food sources, and nesting materials. When I realized this overlap, I committed to having Shakespeare's 182 botanical species represented in the artwork. I refer to early modern botanical illustrations to capture how each plant looked in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Shakespeare's plants have a visual presence in the artwork; however, the written summaries are exclusively dedicated to Shakespeare's birds, so the project maintains its avian focus.
Artwork Medium and Dimensions
All paintings measure 30 x 22 inches. I paint with acrylic ink on hot-press watercolor paper.
Conserving Our Environment
Most birds that Shakespeare admired can be viewed and appreciated in our backyards. Through nature, we can step back in time and experience Shakespeare's world— if we preserve it. By highlighting the beauty of these creatures and the treasured literature they inspired, The Birds of Shakespeare reminds us that the destruction of wildlife is a cultural loss as well as an environmental one. Ten percent of limited edition print sales are donated to wildlife conservation charities.
About the Artist
I discovered a passion for Shakespeare as an undergraduate art student at Carnegie Mellon University, and I have been reading and watching his plays ever since. The Birds of Shakespeare is a product of my curiosity about birds, literature, and language.
I am an artist and author based in southern Maine. My book, The Traveling Artist: A Visual Journal, is an international travelogue comprised of eighty paintings. You can learn more about me and view my complete portfolio at missydunaway.com.