Walker tour guide Claudia Swager writes:
Birders, bring your binoculars when visiting the Sculpture Garden. I was in the 9th floor conference room when a peregrine falcon flew really close along the length of the bank of windows. It was awesome. They are the fastest flyers in the bird world. I was thinking that the windows in the new addition would be a lovely nesting place if they would remove the screen. We could have Walker falcon cam. I wonder if anyone else has sighted some birds perched in the linden trees or nestled in the sculpture? Several years ago a Mother robin nested in the jaw of Deborah Butterfield’s Woodrow. She was calm and unperturbed when visitors came close. I saw a nest in D’Suvero’s Arikidea—it was a “ rock a bye birdie” affair which would move with the sculpture. I have seen hummingbirds in the perennial beds and there are always a few sparrows in the conservatory flitting among the palms.
What are the conservation problems with birds on the sculpture? Who cleans and how often? Any bird tour of the sculpture garden would have to include the vulture in Prometheus Strangling the Vulture II by Jaques Lipchitz. That is a really big bird! There are always new baby ducks in the pond and an occasional visit of a heron or an egret. Nature in the middle of the city is entertaining and exciting.
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