An installation created for The Recycled Rain Project, an annual art show of works made with collected rain water to raise awareness of water issues. 

When I was asked to participate in the Recycled Rain Project, my mind went immediately to rain sticks, as I have been using the motif of a walking stick for the past decade. When I started researching the history of rainsticks, I learned that the Aztecs used them as a ceremonial tool for bringing rain to their crops. 

Around the same time, I was thinking a lot about the Audubon Society's Birds and Climate Change Report, issued last fall. This report looks at the current direction our culture is headed and makes the claim that half of this country's birds will be extinct by the year 2080 if we don't take action now. I chose to immortalize nine songbirds from their list who currently inhabit the Pacific Flyway.