Young Theodore Roosevelt loved studying nature, particularly birds. As a teen, he was able to identify most bird species in the northeastern U.S. by their song, flight pattern, courtship behavior, and plumage.
He collected and mounted this Snowy Owl near Oyster Bay, Long Island in 1876, the same year he entered Harvard. It will return to public view when the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall reopens on October 27.
© AMNH/C. Chesek
