Audubon's Shame

Illustrious Audubon routinely slew
and devoured with relish the same birds he drew
on his quest for natural preservation.
He brooked no culinary reservation:
each rosey spoonbill and rare chickadee
was served up baked, broiled, or a fine fricasee.
From palette to palate, from a perch to a plate,
artistic taste sealed each subject's fate.

But let us add gamely by way of defense,
populations ornithical were in his day so dense
that a skyward tossed stone from most any venue
rewarded the tosser to a full fowl-course menu.
He left it for us to conserve and ecologize,
but were he alive I'm sure he'd apologize.