Exploring the Texas coast during the spring of 1837 allowed John James Audubon to expand the range of those birds considered resident rather than migratory, such as the Crested Titmouse. The Crested Titmouse has since become known as tufted rather than crested. Few other birds are more content than the Tufted titmouse looking for food, nesting, coping with the changes of season, and dealing with predators in such a comparatively small area for their whole life. The tree in which Audubon chose to place the Tufted titmouse is the White pine as drawn by his assistant, Joseph Mason. Audubon describes the White pine as “a tree of great beauty, of which individuals have been observed of the enormous height of 180 feet, with a diameter at the base of from six to eight feet. The trunk is branchless for two-thirds of its height, and affords the most valuable wood perhaps of any tree in the United States.” The largest White pine in all of North America currently stands in Waldo, Maine. It is 125 ft. tall and has a diameter that is near six feet.
Plate 39 – Crested Titmouse
Plate 39 of the first edition of "Birds of America" by John James Audubon.