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Birdsong and Solitude
On long nights painting alone, artist Jane Kim found comfort in the sounds of nature.
© Thayer Walker
The Wall of Birds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a towering mural showing nearly 250 life-sized birds across a map of the world. To complete the impressive artwork, artist and scientific illustrator Jane Kim spent 17 months painting day in and day out. Though the experience was often solitary, Jane stayed connected to the outside world through the sounds of wildlife in the nature preserve that surround Cornell Lab.
Read more about Jane Kim and the Wall of Birds in Field Notes!
BirdNote®
Birdsong and Solitude
Written by Ariana Remmel
This is BirdNote.
[Sapsucker Woods]
The Wall of Birds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a towering mural showing nearly 250 life sized birds across a map of the world. It took artist Jane Kim seventeen long months to paint:
Jane Kim: Sometimes it was almost lonely or isolating. Because there was no one who was able to share that experience with me, of painting day in and day out, sometimes seven days a week. So like those birds all kind of became my friends [laughter].
And not just the birds Jane illustrated. Speakers throughout the building let visitors hear sounds of wildlife from the surrounding nature sanctuary. In her book about the Wall of Birds, Jane reflected on how that soundscape connected her to the outside world.
Jane Kim: I'd paint in the lift for hours and hours, oblivious to the passing time until the caterwauling calls of a Barred Owl, like a giant squeegee being dragged across a window, echoed through the lobby and interrupted my reverie.
[Barred Owl]
Jane Kim: During those too frequent all-nighters, the rolling trill of Red-winged Blackbirds announcing the dawn informed me it was time to retire.
[Red-winged Blackbird]
Jane Kim: The chorus often brought to mind the words of Claude Monet, “I would like to paint the way a bird sings”. On my walk to the car through the sharp morning air, I couldn't help wishing I could sing like them too.
[More bird sounds]
See photos from the Wall of Birds when you visit our website, BirdNote.org. I’m Mark Bramhill.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Sapsucker Woods, ML14641 recorded by Arthur A. Allen; Barred Owl, ML28839251 recorded by Jay McGowan; Red-winged Blackbird, ML54442231 recorded by Brad Walker.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2025 BirdNote December 2025
Narrator: Mark Bramhill
ID# KimJ-03-2025-12-23 KimJ-03
Mark Bramhill
Narrator
Ariana Remmel
WriterSights & Sounds
