John James Audubon returned to Charleston, South Carolina, from his exploration of the Florida Keys in early June of 1832. Audubon then started organizing the only family trip that the Audubons ever took together. The trip was at least partly vacation. The rest of the time was spent working on drawings of birds and selling subscriptions to Birds of America, which by the summer of 1832 had become a full-fledged family enterprise. The starting point was Camden, New Jersey, at the same boarding house where Audubon was a guest in the summer of 1829 (see Plate 118). From Camden, the Audubon family made their way to Morrestown, New Jersey, to visit and enjoy the company of Edward Harris who was second only to John Bachman (1790-1874) as a friend of John James Audubon and supporter of Birds of America.
The decision to visit Moorestown could have not been more auspicious for the family trip when Audubon spotted near the town and was able to fell a Fork-tailed Flycatcher. This was the fourth and the last of the Fork-tailed Flycatchers that Audubon saw in his lifetime. Audubon sighted the bird flying over a meadow. The bird then alighted on a “small detached tree.” As soon as Audubon felled the bird from the detached tree, Audubon positioned the bird on his grid-lined armature and created one of the most dramatic drawings in Birds of America.
The first experience that Audubon had with the Fork-tailed flycatcher was while he was living in Henderson, Kentucky. The specimen had been dead for a number of days and was given to Audubon in a “nearly putrid” state. The other two Fork-tailed flycatchers appeared high over Natchez, Mississippi, in August of 1822. They flew close enough for Audubon to hear the birds make their tik calls but too far for Audubon to take aim with his shotgun. The Fork-tailed flycatcher remains extremely rare in North America. For Audubon to have seen four Fork-tailed flycatchers in his lifetime, the bird must have ventured farther north than it does today.