Passenger Pigeon - Ithaca, NY
Posted by: 
ripraff
N 42° 28.766 W 076° 27.059
18T E 380738 N 4704029
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology currently has a sculpture of a passenger pigeon by Todd McGrain to celebrate the 100th year of the extinction of the bird.
Waymark Code: WMNYM8
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 05/25/2015
Views: 2
(
visit link)
"Works of the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology lab’s artist-in-residence, Todd McGrain, are on display as part of the centenary, including a sculpture at the lab’s entrance. McGrain, currently in Africa, told Audubon Magazine that he is hoping his work as an artist raises awareness about rapid extinctions and the human impact on the environment."
(
visit link)
"The Lost Bird Project, a film about artist Todd McGrain and his effort to recognize the tragedy of modern extinction by immortalizing North American birds that have been driven to extinction in sculptures he places at the site of each bird’s extinction...
AC: Your sculptures are very large, how much does an average one weigh?
TM: 700 – 900 pounds. The parody of scale I model for these five extinct birds creates a physical sympathy as you approach them. They once were and are no longer. In this form they are undeniable. The sculptures were made to be seen in the their landscape, their habitat. This demanded bronze for durability. However the tactility of bronze makes people wish to touch them. Touching the sculptures is a sympathetic gesture that encourages observers to have a deeper experience with the loss of each bird."
(
visit link)
"On March 24th, 1900, a boy in Pike County, Ohio shot the last recorded wild Passenger Pigeon. Fourteen years later, under the watchful eyes of her keepers, the last captive Passenger Pigeon, Martha, died in her cage at the Cincinnati Zoo."