New Sculptures Hope To Boost Conservation & Extinction Awareness
The Lost Bird Project has installed five new sculptures around Penn State-affiliated locations in an effort to increase conservation and extinction awareness.
Brought in by the Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, the five sculptures of extinct birds will find temporary homes in Centre, Blair, and Huntingdon counties. Two of them are currently displayed at University Park.
Sculpted out of bronze and weighing more than 1,000 pounds, the sculptures memorialize different bird species that all suffered extinction by 1932, including:
- Great Auk
- Labrador Duck
- Passenger Pigeon
- Carolina Parakeet
- Heath Hen
Penn State has welcomed the Carolina Parakeet and Labrador Duck sculptures onto campus. They can be found in the Arboretum and the Hintz Alumni Center Garden, respectively. The sculptures, photographed below by Penn State’s Jake Meyers, will remain on display until August 2022.
Sculptor and project creator Todd McGrain hopes viewers of his work are conscious about the impact humans have on their surroundings and the environment.
“The idea that something so plentiful can be lost to our natural environment is a good reminder to take care of what we have,” McGrain said.
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