It’s a hard time to be a bird. Over the past fifty years, almost three billion birds—nearly one-third of the total population—have disappeared from North America. Climate change, habitat loss, collisions with buildings, pesticides, and other human-caused threats have contributed to a startling increase in extinction rates and undermined the stability of our ecosystems. Ten Thousand Birds was provoked by a mass die-off of migrating songbirds between Texas and Nebraska in the fall of 2020. Heading from Alaska and Canada to their winter habitats in Central and South America, a cold snap forced thousands of emaciated songbirds from the sky. Yards and parks and fields were scattered with their brightly hued bodies, many reduced to little more than bone and feather. 

Rather than a lament, however, Ten Thousand Birds creates the sensation of stepping into an aviary. The exhibition takes its name from a chamber orchestra by composer John Luther Adams based on the diurnal cycle of birdsongs from morning to night and back again, underscoring the relationship between music and nature. In photographs, prints, sculpture, and tapestry, the exhibition’s ten other artists explore migration, habitat loss, extinction, and how birds navigate their way through the night sky. Participating artists include Rachel Berwick, Barbara Bosworth, Jason DeMarte, Walton Ford, Kirsten Furlong, Paula McCartney, Carolyn Monastra, Fred Tomaselli, Terri Weifenbach, and Katherine Wolkoff. An installation created by Dr. Martha Desmond, Regents Professor of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Ecology at New Mexico State University, and her students will explore the emerging practice of “disaster ecology” and its role in understanding how the future appears from a bird’s eye view. 

We are surrounded by birds, day and night. Hearing their songs, we reflexively look upward, hoping to catch a glimpse as they trace graceful patterns above us. Ten Thousand Birds reminds us of the fragility and tenacity of their existence – weighing as little as a few ounces yet traveling thousands of miles a year – and of the joy that fills the skies in defiance of a fragmenting world. 

For a complete checklist and information on hosting Ten Thousand Birds, please contact exhibitions@barrylopezfoundation.org