Field Notes
How did we get here?
Notes, photos, and inspiration from the field
Bird Codes
The four-letter bird codes (or alpha codes) on each bird page on this site are the abbreviation used by ornithologists and bird watchers. They are also called banding codes because they are stamped on the small aluminum bands put on birds legs to help track where they travel. It is easy and can be fun to learn the bird codes!
The general rule to create bird codes is:
- For birds with a one-word name, use the first 4 letters: IE Merlin = MERL.
- For birds with two-word names, use the first 2 letters of the first word and first 2 letters of the second word: IE Wood Thrush = WOTH
- For birds with three-word names when the first word is hyphenated, use the first letter of first and second words, and first 2 of the last word: IE Blue-winged Warbler = BWWA
There are some exceptions to these rules so take a deeper dive by visiting the Institute for Bird Populations which includes birds of Mexico.
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In 2001, I made Congregation using images of birds cut out from books. Although it was a “one-off” in my series, The Dominion of Trees, I knew I would return to using cutouts in a future project.
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The National Audubon Society’s “Birds and Climate Change Report” which projects that, by 2080, climate change will affect the range of habitat of over half of North American birds.
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Philip K. Dick’s 1968 dystopian novel, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” where electric versions of once-commonplace animals are so realistic that they fool veterinarians.
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American Robin’s nest
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I use Wiki Commons, Flickr and stock photo agencies to source appropriated images of the impacted birds which I print and cut out. Some of the bird photos I have taken myself and a few have been “gifted” to me from birders.
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I place these cutouts within the birds’ current habitats so that they look real, but upon inspection, reveal themselves to be photos within photos — the gaze within the gaze upon nature — as actual birds recede into marginal zones of survival.
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I generally work alone, but sometimes I need an assistant to help hold up the larger cutouts as my mother did when I photographed this “Sandhill Crane” in Kearny, Nebraska.
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The images are meant to disrupt the casual gaze, disarming expectations of nature photography leaving viewers disturbed and questioning. Audiences, like these middle school students, are invited to participate in climate activism through interactive workshops.