“Bird in a Bag” explores the innately disruptive nature of research and conservation practices by mimicking the bird bagging method used in ornithological studies. The work is a site-specific installation located at CU Boulder’s Mountain Research Station (MRS) near Colorado’s Indian Peaks Wilderness. 

The bags are made of flagging tape, a material commonly used in conservation practices, while bird-like mechanisms and recorded bird calls simulate local avian species trapped inside. The location of the work at the MRS reinforces its conversation with research methods. The bags hang from trees deep in the lodgepole pine forest which starkly contrasts the lab environment where one might typically see bagged birds. The contradiction between the object and the installation site, in partnership with the work’s flapping, seemingly struggling, interior mechanisms, highlights the objects as wildlife stressors. 

Ornithologists who are bagging birds in their own work are prioritizing the health of avian populations over the disturbance of individuals. Maintaining a particular balance within an ecosystem can be to the detriment of another of its parts. As a result, conservationists have to define their priorities for their research and for the ecosystem where they work. “Bird Dropping” asks viewers to consider this innate intrusion of scientific and environmental progress within the context of ecological study.