On Oct 21, look carefully in the greenery around the garden arbor and you'll discover some unusual translucent "nests." Listen and you'll hear some lovely bird calls. Artist Linda Byrne wove the nests from plastic six-pack rings, a material that can kill birds that get trapped in it: "I am commenting on the over-use of non-biodegradable materials which have become life threatening objects for birds," she says, "Materials and imagery combine to comment on the degradation of our environment." The Vanishing Bird Project, on display at 6BC Garden during Autumn Fest, is a collaboration with writer Maggie Dubris, who melded recordings from the Cornell Bird Lab with her own poetry to create a soundtrack. Together, they remind us what we lose when we lose birds.
