Turkeys, Pelicans, Falcons, and more! Birds of Shakespeare

Shakespeare's plays and poems are filled with birds—from familiar crows, swans, and sparrows to species that would have seemed rare, exotic, or unusual in Renaissance England. But these birds are more than decorative details. They carry symbolism, reflect the natural world Shakespeare knew, and reveal how people in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries understood the animals around them.

In this episode, artist and researcher Missy Dunaway joins us to explore her Birds of Shakespeare project, which documents all sixty-five bird species referenced across Shakespeare's works. We'll discover how she identified each bird, the historical sources behind her paintings, the plants and symbolism included in her compositions, and some of the most surprising birds to appear in Shakespeare's writing.