Thousands of Handmade Birds Spotlight a Deadly Migration Toll in Chicago

On a Saturday afternoon in June, volunteers sat at tables within the Chicago Structure Heart quietly constructing birds out of scrap material. One minimize out black strips for a Magnolia Warbler’s breast, whereas one other overlapped brown and black to trend a Home Sparrow. 

Every material creation memorial­izes one in every of 10,836 actual birds that died after crashing into Chicago buildings in 2023. By way of workshops like this, native artist Holly Greenberg is gathering a full set of replicas that she’ll sew into a stunning but sobering tapestry: a 300-foot-long “carpet” that warns of the town’s risks for birdlife.   

Positioned alongside Lake Michigan, Chicago could be a lethal entice for migrants of the Mississippi Flyway. Tens of millions think about the shore to keep away from flying over water, and buildings’ shiny lights can lure them into the town. As birds move by way of, they danger colliding with glass home windows, which they typically can’t see. 

A very lethal evening impressed Greenberg’s undertaking. On October 5, 2023, volunteers discovered greater than 2,000 useless birds throughout Chicago, together with nearly 1,000 by the glassy McCormick Place conference middle. Greenberg, who had lately realized about hen strikes, envisioned an enormous memorial to the town’s victims. However to create one thing so large, she’d need assistance. “I simply dreamed up this plan to make these pop-up artwork studios,” she says.

She’s since led greater than 80 free workshops at venues comparable to faculties and avenue festivals. Others have hosted one other 100 periods exterior the Chicago space after signing up on Greenberg’s website. At every, members use upcycled material and glue to rework a clean stuffed hen into one in every of greater than 200 species discovered useless within the metropolis in 2023. According to Greenberg’s mission to restrict waste in her artwork, all the material and stuffing come from donations or her personal scrap assortment.

Alongside the way in which, Greenberg and her companions encourage individuals to step as much as defend birdlife. “Chicken conservationists, in fact, perceive how harmful Chicago is,” says Judy Pollock, former president of the Chicago Chicken Alliance, which helps promote the undertaking. “I simply don’t understand how a lot the typical individual understands about that.”

Greenberg teaches members how you can forestall collisions at dwelling—the place almost half of hen strikes happen—by treating home windows with stickers or paint. She additionally drums up assist for a bigger-picture change: a proposed metropolis council ordinance that may require bird-safe designs for some new development and renovation initiatives. Rising consciousness has already led to some change. At McCormick Place, homeowners utilized retrofits to the glassy facade after that lethal evening, lowering collisions by 95 p.c the following fall.

Thus far, Greenberg has amassed greater than 4,000 replicas, and he or she expects it’ll take a number of extra years to finish the carpet. However she’s in no rush. “The longer it takes,” she says, “the extra individuals I get to speak to about fixing their home windows.”

This story initially ran within the Fall 2026 concern as “Crafting Consciousness.” To obtain our print journal, turn into a member by making a donation today.