Flying Birds

This is a weaving of bird data from the Willsboro route of the North American Breeding Bird Survey.  The BBS is a long-term, continent-wide monitoring program that began in 1966 and tracks the status and trends of bird populations across North America.  The woven triangles in this piece represent American kestrel (light seafoam green), Northern harrier (dark forest green), red-tailed hawk (orange), and osprey (brown) that were documented in the survey from 1967-2021.  The dark blue areas are years when no data were recorded, which is not uncommon in long-running programs that rely on the kindness of volunteer observers.  The yarn making up the triangles come from sheep at wollecru and was dyed with natural dyes from the farm (buckthorn berries, sheep sorrel, coreopsis, and buckthorn bark).   The background yarns are an organic cotton/linen blend and reclaimed wool from a neighbor. 

More info about this beautiful farm and Kirsten’s weaving practice here 

Creator: Kirsten Liebl