Photo by DOCUMENT
Nocturnes, Avian Listening at Midnight, 8 bird species
Alice Hargrave
Hand-glazed, etched glass
2025
Nocturnes visualizes the calls of eight migratory bird species as spectrograms — graphic renderings of sound frequency and amplitude over time. Recorded overnight during Chicago’s migration season, these vocalizations trace a hidden aerial passage used by millions of unseen birds. The sounds form a hieroglyphic-like script that animates the night sky, an essential habitat for bird migration, and home to the Mississippi Flyway overhead.
Alice Hargrave is a Chicago artist who layers photographs, archival materials, sound and color to translate bird calls into visual form, reflecting a deep reverence for the natural world.
Bird Species: Scarlet Tanager, Wilson’s Warbler, Indigo Bunting, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Upland Sandpiper, Cape May Warbler, Palm Warbler and Swainson’s Thrush
Special Thanks to Andrew Farnsworth, Benjamin Van Doren, Jorge Garcia, Madison Chudzik, and Sara Lipshutz for their groundbreaking work setting up automated recording units, deciphering huge amounts of data identifying species and numbers of birds migrating through Chicago, and for crafting spectrograms.
Recordings courtesy: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, CALM: Chicago Avian Listening at Midnight – The Chicago Bird Migration Monitoring Network, and Kyle Horton
Photo by DOCUMENT
Water Music, Lake Calls, 12 bird species
Alice Hargrave
Hand-glazed, etched glass
2025
Water Music layers the vocalizations of twelve bird species, floating like musical notes against the turquoise waters of Lake Michigan. Each call appears as a sound wave pattern, colored by the unique traits of the bird – its plumage, eyes, or skin. These intertwined voices form a visual and sonic dialogue, evoking the lake’s rich biodiversity and the avian history of Chicago, our “City in a Garden”.
Alice Hargrave is a Chicago artist whose work layers photographs, archival materials, sound and color to translate bird calls into visual form, reflecting a deep reverence for the natural world.
Bird Species: Common Loon, Piping Plover, Peregrine Falcon, American Kestrel, Black-crowned Night Heron, Caspian Tern, Killdeer, Sandhill Crane, Hooded Merganser, Bufflehead, and Snowy Owl.
Special Thanks to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology— Macaulay Library for allowing me to collaborate— creating projects that bring together art and science.
Recordings courtesy: The Macaulay Library at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Recordings by: Aladdin, Mathew Brown, Ian Davies, Susan Drown, Herb Elliott, David
C. Evers, Wil Hershberger, Geoffrey A. Keller, Warren Lynn, Dan J. MacNeal, Bob
McGuire, Fabian Ortiz, Brian Shulist, Collin Smith, Gerit Vyn
Photo by DOCUMENT
Pastorales, Prairie Calls, 14 bird species
Alice Hargrave
Hand-glazed, etched glass
2025
Pastorales draws inspiration from both musical scores and native prairie landscapes that attract migrating birds each spring and fall. Featuring the vocalizations of fourteen bird species amid diverse prairie flora such as Milkweed and Purple Coneflower, this expansive artwork serves as a kind of Rosetta Stone for avian language. Color acts as advocacy, amplifying the voices of threatened species, while the layered soundscape conveys the sensory intensity of spring migration within the urban environment.
Alice Hargrave is a Chicago artist who layers photographs, archival materials, sound and color to translate bird calls into visual form, reflecting a deep reverence for the natural world.
Bird Species: Swainson’s Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Meadowlark, Baltimore Oriole, Winter Wren, Warbling Vireo, Common Yellowthroat, Cedar Waxwing, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Northern Cardinal
Special Thanks to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology— Macaulay Library for allowing me to collaborate— creating projects that bring together art and science.
Recordings courtesy: The Macaulay Library at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Recordings by: William R. Fish, Dave Herr, Wil Hershberger, Daniel Jauvin, Geoffrey A. Keller, Jay McGowan, Bob McGuire, Christopher McPherson, Fabian Ortiz, Paul A. Schwartz, Brad Walker
To learn more about mid-west avian populations and their migratory activities please visit these websites:
Nocturnes
The Chicago Bird Migration Monitoring Network / Dashboard
BirdCast at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Water Music
The Macaulay Library at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Pastorales
The Macaulay Library at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology