Lesser Yellowlegs by Robert Fishbone

Painted: 10/22/25 

Concerning the Mural: Alongside the noisy Landmarks Boulevard that winds into downtown Alton, Illinois, drivers will now be greeted by a colourful sight: three painted Lesser Yellowlegs wrapping round a small cement constructing, every shorebird standing over 10 toes tall. “You possibly can’t miss it,” says Kenneth Buchholz, heart director on the Audubon Middle at Riverlands, who helped manage the venture. 

Within the mural, the Lesser Yellowlegs wade by means of reeds in opposition to a vibrant orange, pink, and purple sky. When the solar units over downtown, the mural “spills over to the precise sundown,” says Robert Fishbone, the artist behind the mural. 

The mural was created by means of a collaboration among the many Nationwide Audubon Society, Audubon Middle at Riverlands, and Alton Principal Road. It highlights the town’s location alongside the Mississippi Flyway, an vital migration route for tons of of chicken species, and sits dealing with the three,700-acre Riverlands Migratory Chicken Sanctuary throughout the Mississippi River. There, tons of of yellowlegs land every year to replenish on bugs and crustaceans earlier than persevering with their journeys.

On prime of including colour and sweetness to Alton, Buchholz hopes the mural will evoke a way of accountability in viewers and make them surprise: “What can I do to assist be certain that that chicken arrives safely right here yearly because it passes by means of?”  

On the mural’s unveiling on the finish of October, a dance class from Principia School carried out to honor the venture. The piece was choreographed by Erin Lane, affiliate professor of dance, in collaboration together with her college students, one in every of whom designed the costumes. 

To create the dance, the category researched Lesser Yellowlegs, first specializing in their bodily traits and behaviors, then on conservation issues. The piece begins off with actions imitating yellowlegs tremors and paces. Step by step, the temper shifts from joyful to extra frantic. In the midst of the piece, the entire dancers squat to the bottom and search for, as if anticipating hardship coming, Lane says. In the long run, many of the dancers fade into the viewers, however some are left behind, as if frozen in place in entrance of the mural. 

It was one of many darker items Lane has labored on, “however that was the purpose,” she says. She and her class needed to evoke an emotional response from the viewers: “We have to have one thing shift the way in which we see and expertise the world, to hopefully make a shift in our actions.” 

The mural is Alton’s second paintings within the Audubon Mural Undertaking, becoming a member of a piece painted in 2023 to characteristic the vary of birds that move by means of the flyway. “We’re distinguishing Alton not solely as a spot of gorgeous historic structure, but it surely’s a spot the place there’s an appreciation for nature,” says Penny Schmidt, advisory board member for the Audubon Middle at Riverlands. It’s additionally the third in a collection of Lesser Yellowlegs murals that may define the chicken’s migratory path, from Alaska and Canada to South America. 

Concerning the Chicken: The Lesser Yellowlegs is a small shorebird finest recognized for its brilliant legs. It strides with excessive steps by means of shallow waters, generally swinging its head forwards and backwards because it forages for bugs, small fish, and crustaceans. 

The birds are most frequently seen all through the USA throughout migration, once they land in wetlands, marshes, and mudflats to relaxation and refuel. In stopover websites like Alton, “we’re meals, shelter and protected passage for them,” says Buchholz. 

Lesser Yellowlegs have misplaced greater than 50 % of their inhabitants within the final 50 years in the USA, in line with the 2025 State of the Birds report. One main problem is their reliance on wetlands, that are disappearing because of improvement and sea degree rise. If international warming continues at present charges, Lesser Yellowlegs are projected to lose 96 % of their summer season vary, in line with Audubon’s Survival By Degrees report. However taking motion to restrict warming can make sure the birds can thrive in a wider vary of habitats. 

Concerning the Artist: Robert Fishbone, a St. Louis-based artist, has painted greater than 200 murals. Additionally a musician, Fishbone wasn’t educated in nice artwork, however has turn into an professional by means of expertise. He and his late spouse, Sarah Linquist, started portray murals as a crew in 1974. They painted the whole lot from summary skies to massive frogs to scenes depicting the historical past of St. Louis. “Each mural that we did was completely completely different,” Fishbone says. In the present day, he usually collaborates along with his daughter. 

For this piece, he introduced on one other muralist, Norm4eva, who painted all three of the Lesser Yellowlegs. In every of his murals, Fishbone likes so as to add some surrealism—on this case incorporating into the panorama a colourful and geometric association he calls the “Burning Man temple of reeds.” In any other case, he made positive the portray was correct to the chicken and its habitat. 

This mural marks his second in Alton—he additionally painted the town’s first contribution to the Audubon Mural Undertaking. Whereas not a birder, “I am in awe of the dwelling world,” Fishbone says. When folks see the mural, he hopes they really feel “enlivened”—after which take into consideration “how fragile our environments are and the way simple it’s for one factor to decimate or extremely lower a chicken inhabitants.”