Navigation - Dickinson's Birds

The Archives

“Delight is as the flight –” —E. Dickinson, Fr317

Poem Archive

Scope

The Poem Archive shelters 230 poems, represented by 350 manuscript versions, composed by Dickinson and marked by the presence of birds. [1]

Manuscripts

Whenever possible, digital facsimiles of the manuscripts gathered here are provided. Currently, only those manuscript leaves/surfaces containing writing are presented; a later iteration of Dickinson’s Birds will present all surfaces to enable a fuller visualization of each manuscript’s physical structure.

Headnotes identify the manuscript by archive catalog number and Franklin variorum number and offer information, when known, on the manuscript’s date of composition, copying, or circulation; its medium (ink, pencil, ink+ pencil); its state (draft, fair copy, fair copy–revised); its setting in Dickinson’s archive (bound; unbound); its paper type [2]; and its circulation status (retained or sent). In cases where a manuscript has circulated, the recipient/s is/are identified and further information about them reported. All manuscripts affiliated with a given poem are identified and linked.

In addition to textual and bibliographical information, each poem is also accompanied by a list of the birds it names. In instances where a specific bird is identified, an audio file of the sound of the bird is included and a link to the Bird Archive enables further tracking of the bird both inside and outside Dickinson’s work and century. In instances where unnamed birds appear in a poem, a link opens to the Bird Archive as a whole.

Since the Poem Archive is an archive of Manuscripts rather than Works, moreover, the dates assigned are to each manuscript witness of a given work rather than to the work itself—i.e., the manuscript of a draft will bear the composition date; the manuscript of a copy will bear the copying date; and the manuscript of a poem circulated to a recipient will bear the circulation date. When no manuscript is extant, but the poem is accessible in an early (C19) printed source, the date given is the date of its printing. The dates assigned here derive principally from Franklin 1998 and secondarily from Miller and Mitchell 2024.[3]

The temporal focus of this project—the importance of the seasons [4]—has led us to treat the more general dates assigned by Franklin in the following way: poems assigned to “late” in the year are assigned to fall; poems assigned to “early” in the year are assigned to winter. We have not attempted to assign poems dated “first half of the year” or “second half of the year” to a specific season.

Transcriptions

In transcribing Dickinson’s poems our aim has been to render as precisely and accurately as possible in the typographic medium Dickinson’s orthography, punctuation, and physical line and stanza breaks, as well as the disposition of her writing across leaves and other surfaces. In carrying out this work we consciously engaged two vital reading traditions: the manuscript tradition in which Dickinson worked exclusively during her lifetime, and the print tradition in which her work was widely disseminated and read after her death. [5]

Our engagement with the manuscript tradition is registered in our inclusion—foregrounding—of the material faces of Dickinson’s manuscripts via digital facsimiles as well as in our practice of transcribing directly from manuscript sources whenever possible. In those instances where Dickinson’s “bird” poems share space on a MS surface with other poems not referencing birds, and in cases where “bird” poems are embedded within letters and letter drafts, the entire MS is transcribed. When a “bird” poem is embedded in a longer text, a “glow” effect in the transcription makes it readily identifiable.

Our engagement with the print tradition is reflected in our decision to prepare limited diplomatic transcriptions of these works rather than fully typographic facsimiles. We also deploy typographical forms and editorial symbols for a clarity of presentation that simultaneously highlights the non-identity of print and manuscript productions. (See Poem Archive Notes for a complete list of editorial symbols.)

Our transcriptions are presented on spectral panes that exist “behind” the facsimile images until called forward by the reader. Like the C19 bird-blinds that were their inspiration, the panes are designed to convey our simultaneous sense of closeness and remoteness from Dickinson, her scene of writing, and her original authorial intentions. [6]

Environmental Phenomena in the Poems

Among other things, the Archives encourage our attunement to the ways in which Dickinson’s poems evoke the world(s) around her and to her complex, sometimes uncanny experience of emplacement. Our data mining of the poems reflects their relationship to scale, place, motion, time, and sound. In addition to marking the poems’ direct allusions to Universe/s, World/s, and Nature/s, we report their references to specific Solar Bodies, Landforms, Flora and Fauna, Matter (organic and inorganic), Meteorological and Atmospheric processes, and Temporal increments (moments, hours, days, seasons, years) not experienced exclusively by humans but more generally in and by nature. These phenomena appear here in small data clouds streaming out beside the poem manuscripts. Like the variant word lists often found drifting below Dickinson’s poems, some of which appear as “collapsing glosses” of the poems, these clouds refocus our attention on the manifold data of the world flowing in and out of Dickinson’s works. They take the place traditionally reserved for transcriptions, which now open in another pane when accessed by users. [7]

Searching the Poem Archive

Navigation in the archives of Dickinson’s Birds is designed to be intuitive, with every reader/seeker finding their singular way among its offerings.

The default arrangement of the Poem Archive is alphabetical by first line.

The chronology of Dickinson’s bird poems is discoverable via three search options: poem MSS dated to a certain year are searchable by year; poem MSS assigned to a specific season are searchable by season; and poem MSS assigned to a specific month are searchable by month.

Alternate search parameters allow readers to curate the poems via their material setting in or beyond Dickinson’s private archive: Readers may search for bound (fascicle) manuscripts; unbound manuscripts of three forms (those composed on bifolium sheets designated by R. W. Franklin as belonging to “sets”; those on loose bifolium sheets or stray leaves; and those on ephemeral substrates, e.g., envelopes, fragments of paper bags, etc. ), and for circulated manuscripts by recipient/s. Searches by MS state (draft, fair copy, fair copy, with revisions); medium (ink, pencil, ink + pencil); and enclosures are also possible. Finally, users may search for manuscripts alluding to general and specific environmental phenomena and key avian behaviors. [8]

The search bar allows for exact phrase searches of the transcriptions of Dickinson’s poems; it also allows users to search by Franklin number, e.g., Fr359B.

Primary Sources

Archival Sources

The Emily Dickinson Archive, an open-access resource containing the largest single source of digital surrogates of the manuscripts of Dickinson’s poems and letters, is the primary source for the manuscript images reproduced in Dickinson’s Birds.

Grateful acknowledgment is given to the EDA as well as to the many libraries and institutions that contributed images of Dickinson’s manuscripts and/or information about them: The American Antiquarian Society; Amherst College Archives & Special Collections; The Beinecke Library, Yale University Library; The Boston Public Library; Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University; Forbes Library; The Houghton Library, Harvard University; The Jones Library; The Library of Congress; Middlebury College Library; The Monson Free Public Library; The Morgan Library & Museum; The New York Public Library; Princeton University Library; The Robert P. Esty Library; The Rosenbach Library; Scripps College Library; Smith College Libraries; The State Historical Society of Iowa; Vassar Special Collections.

Location Symbols for Key Archives

A Amherst College Library. Emily Dickinson Collections

BPL Boston Public Library. Thomas Wentworth Higginson Papers Collection

H Houghton Library, Harvard University. Emily Dickinson Collections [Poems associated with Martha Dickinson Bianchi are marked as H B; poems sent to Elizabeth and Josiah Holland are marked as H H; transcriptions supplied by Susan Dickinson are marked as ST]

Y-BRBL Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

Scholarly Editions Consulted

R. W. Franklin, ed., The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Variorum Edition. 3 vols. Cambridge, MA, and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998.

R. W. Franklin, ed., The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson. 2 vols. Cambridge, MA, and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1981.

Ellen Louise Hart & Martha Nell Smith, eds., Open Me Carefully: Emily Dickinson’s Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson. Ashfield, MA: Paris Press, 1998.

Thomas H. Johnson & Theodora Ward, eds., The Letters of Emily Dickinson. 3 vols. Cambridge, MA, and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1958.

Cristanne Miller, ed., Emily Dickinson’s Poems as She Preserved Them. Cambridge, MA, and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016.

Cristanne Miller & Domhnall Mitchell, eds., The Letters of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge, MA, and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016.

Marta Werner, ed. Radical Scatters: An Electronic Archive of Emily Dickinson’s Late Fragments and Related Texts, 1870-1886. Lincoln: The University of Nebraska, 2007-present.

Marta Werner, Writing in Time: Emily Dickinson’s Master Hours. Amherst: Amherst College Press, 2021.

Marta Werner & Jen Bervin, Emily Dickinson: The Gorgeous Nothings. New York: New Directions, 2013.

Bird Archive

Bird Data: Presence & Historical Field Notes

Presence

C19

Nineteenth-century data on the birds’ presence, arrival, and departure dates is drawn principally from H. L. Clark’s The Birds of Amherst &Vicinity, including nearly the whole of Hampshire County (1887), originally published in Amherst, Mass., by J. E. Williams and now also accessible via the HathiTrust. [10] Two additional sources—Ebenezer Emmons’s Birds of Massachusetts (1833), originally published in Dr. Edward Hitchcock’s “Report on the Geology, Minerology, Botany and Zoology of Massachusetts,” pp. 528-51, and J. A. Allen’s “Catalogue of the Birds Found at Springfield, Mass., with Notes on their Migrations, Habits, & c., together with a list of those birds found in the State not yet observed at Springfield,” originally published in the Proceedings of the Essex Institute at Salem, Vol. IV, No. 2, September 1864 and now also available via the HathiTrust have helped us to fill in the record when Clark’s notes were incomplete. [11]

Together these lists suggest the boundaries of the 19th-century’s formal knowledge of Amherst’s and its immediate environs’ birds. Now cultural artifacts as well as scientific records, these early Field Guides bear witness to the habits of mind of the observers who made them in an era when Nature was still the Book of Nature. Emmons’s, Allen’s, and Clark’s often telegraphic notes marking, among other things, the first sightings of a bird in spring—“Bobolink. 4 April. Miss Morse” (Clark 1887)—and the last glimpses of it in autumn leaving for its wintering range—“Passes south in November” (Clark 1887)—offer tiny archives of feeling.

C20

By the twentieth century, ornithology had evolved into a rigorous scientific discipline, a development reflected in the increasing breadth and depth of available data as well as in changes in the ways data was gathered and reported. While many fine sources were now available to us, we selected as our principal source of data Aaron Clark Bagg and Samuel Atkins Eliot Jr.’s Birds of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts (1937), originally published in Northampton, Mass., by The Hampshire Bookshop and available digitally through the HathiTrust. Unfolding over 800 pages and including entries on 268 species, this work offers a deep ornithological history of the region. In addition to collating more than a hundred years of observations recorded by earlier natural historians, Bagg and Eliot offer significant new data on the region’s birds.

First printed when the Passenger Pigeon H. L. Clark had called “common near Amherst” in the spring of 1888 had been extinct for almost a quarter century, but also a full quarter century before the wide-spread cultural imagination of a “silent spring” would take hold, this guide is also a key transitional work between two centuries that now seem lightyears apart. The entires made by Bagg and Eliot offer a record of a world still balanced between subjectivity and empiricism: “Jan. 16, 1931, [a snowy owl] was sighted at sundown flying from Hadley Bridge southward: a huge, white bird flapping silently and low over the still white glistening fields against the purple of Mt. Holyoke in the fast-falling winter twilight” (314).

Since Bagg and Eliot’s work is regional rather than local and includes more birds than those inhabiting or passing through Amherst, we have used David Fischer’s “Annotated List of 234 Amherst Birds,” in Peter Westover’s Birds and Their Habitats in Amherst, Massachusetts with Complete Annotated List of Amherst Birds (The Hitchcock Center for the Environment, 1977), to determine which birds from Bagg and Eliot’s record to represent here.

C21

In the twenty-first century, in place of the small, rare epiphanies that were the typical rewards of thousands of hours of solitary fieldwork by 19th- and early 20th-century natural historians and ornithologists, come vast datasets collected by non-human radar networks continually scanning the skies for birds. [12]

For 21st-century data, we have cast our mist-net far and wide, sifting resources including the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home) and Birds of the World (https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/home), but also focusing on regional sources including The Massachusetts Avian Records Committee State List; the Mass Audubon Breeding Bird Atlas 1 Species Accounts; and Wayne R. Petersen and Brian E. Small’s Field Guide to Birds of Massachusetts, published by Scott & Nix, Inc., 2017.

We also return to sift the local data in David Fischer’s “Annotated List of 234 Amherst Birds,” in Peter Westover’s Birds and Their Habitats in Amherst, Massachusetts with Complete Annotated List of Amherst Birds (Amherst: Hitchcock Center for the Environment, 1977), and, since this list is still a C20 list, albeit a late C20 list, to the Amherst College Bird Survey of 2008, to determine the birds composing our C21 list.

Historical Field Notes

Historical Field notes generally derive from H. L. Clark’s The Birds of Amherst &Vicinity, including nearly the whole of Hampshire County (1887), originally published in Amherst, Mass., by J. E. Williams and now also accessible via the HathiTrust and Aaron Clark Bagg and Samuel Atkins Eliot Jr.’s Birds of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts (1937), originally published in Northampton, Mass., by The Hampshire Bookshop and available digitally through the HathiTrust.

Bird Data: Nest Materials; Habitat

Data on habitat and nest materials has been collated from several sources, both early and contemporary: H. L. Clark’s The Birds of Amherst &Vicinity, including nearly the whole of Hampshire County (1887), originally published in Amherst, Mass., by J. E. Williams and now also accessible via the HathiTrust (C19); Aaron Clark Bagg and Samuel Atkins Eliot Jr.’s Birds of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts (1937), originally published in Northampton, Mass., by The Hampshire Bookshop and available digitally through the HathiTrust (C20); Audubon’s Field Guide to North American Birds (C21), and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (C21).

Bird Data: Body Mass

Raw data on the masses of birds was found in J. B. Dunning’s Body masses of North American birds (2018), edited by M. Ghadrdan. Eugene, OR: The IWRC. This source offers data on the average mass of adult birds by species and gender. The mean figures, however, must be understand as subject to variation because of the influence of a number of factors including the bird’s chronological age, the season in which it was weighed, etc.

Bird Data: Global Conservation Status (current)

Conservation data on Dickinson’s birds in our century is readily available. Our primary source for this information is the IUCN Red List. In future, we plan to include regional conservation information. For the specific environmental threats to birds occurring in North America, The American Bird Conservancy site is an excellent resource.

Bird Data: Sound & Spectograph Files

The source for all bird-sound and sonograph files in the works is Xeno-Canto (https://xeno-canto.org/), created in 2005 by Bob Planque and William-Pier Vellinga, and administrated by the Netherlands-based Xeno-canto foundation (Stichting Xeno-canto voor natuurgeluiden). [13] Xeno-canto is committed to education, conservation, and citizen science, and their recordings are shared under various Creative Commons licenses that generally allow distribution provided recordists are credited and no commercial proceeds are sought. We are deeply grateful to XenoCanto for their generous mission: without their vast archive, our tiny one would not exist. We extend special gratitude for the individual recordists—acknowledged both on the Individual Bird Pages (“Data Sources”) and in the following list—for their work. They are our collaborators.

Acadian Flycatcher

Sue Riffe, Acadian Flycatcher. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/416786. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Alder Flycatcher

Martin St-Michel, Alder Flycatcher. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/550421. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

American Wigeon

Paul Marvin, American Wigeon. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/384955. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Arctic Redpoll [also: Hoary Redpoll]

Andrew Spencer, Arctic Redpoll. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/142566. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker [also: Black-backed Woodpecker]

Bruce Lagerquist, Black-backed Woodpecker. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/482563. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Baird’s Sandpiper

Andrew Spencer, Baird’s Sandpiper. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/185621. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Bald Eagle

Russ Wigh, Bald Eagle. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/769877. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Baltimore Oriole

Christopher McPherson, Baltimore Oriole. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/600290. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Barn Owl

Millon Xavier, Western Barn Owl. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/683608. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Barn Swallow

Susanne Kuijpers, Barn Swallow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/664750. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Barred Owl

Ron Overholtz, Barred Owl. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/580532. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Bay-breasted Warbler

Matt Wistrand, Bay-breasted Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/560746. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Belted Kingfisher

Russ Wigh, Belted Kingfisher. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/590595. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Bittern

Hal Mitchell, American Bittern. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/310044. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Black Duck

Andrew Spencer, American Black Duck. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/203262. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Black Tern

Isain Contreras Rodríguez, Black Tern. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/570019. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Black-and-white Warbler

Doug Hynes, Black-and-white Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/613378. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Black-billed Cuckoo

Jacob Saucier, Black-billed Cuckoo. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/500139. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Black-capped Chickadee

Thomas Ryder Payne, Black-capped Chickadee. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/636533. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Black-crowned Night Heron

Gabriel Morales, Black-crowned Night Heron. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/588337. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Black-headed Grosbeak

Thomas Magarian, Black-headed Grosbeak. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/700885. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Sue Riffe, Black-throated Blue Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/626751. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Black-throated Green Warbler

Jacob Saucier, Black-throated Green Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/501262. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Blackburnian Warbler

Christopher McPherson, Blackburnian Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/600509. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Blackpoll Warbler

Lucas Berrigan, Blackpoll Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/328797. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Blue Grosbeak

Manuel Grosselet, Blue Grosbeak. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/744812. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Blue Jay

Christopher McPherson, Blue Jay. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/640349. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher

Keith Corliss, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/661346. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Blue-winged Teal

Fernando Castro, Blue-winged Teal. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/501464. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Blue-winged Warbler

Phil Brown, Blue-winged Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/428495. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Bluebird

Christopher McPherson, Eastern Bluebird. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/601011. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Bobolink

Gabriel Leite, Bobolink. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/420908. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Bob-white [also: Quail]

Max Noack, Northern Bobwhite. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/502739. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Bohemian Waxwing

Jarek Matusiak, Bohemian Waxwing. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/517421. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Boreal Chickadee [also: Acadian Chickadee]

James Bradley, Boreal Chickadee. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/336433. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Brant Goose

Bruce Lagerquist, Brant Goose. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/619269. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Broad-winged Hawk

Christopher McPherson, Broad-winged Hawk. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/691176. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Brown Creeper

Richard E. Webster, Brown Creeper. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/440579. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Brown Thrasher [also: Brown Thrush]

Doug Welch, Brown Thrasher. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/420604. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Brown-headed Cowbird

Bobby Wilcox, Brown-headed Cowbird. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/645520. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Canadian Flycatching Warbler [also: Canada Warbler]

Meena Haribal, Canada Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/561374. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Cape May Warbler

Martin St-Michel, Cape May Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/319513. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Cardinal [also: Cardinal-Bird]

Scott Crabtree, Northern Cardinal. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/872638. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Carolina Wren

Russ Wigh, Carolina Wren. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/654818. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Cattle Egret (Western)

Stanislas Wroza, Western Cattle Egret. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/372953. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Cedar-Bird [also: Cedar Waxwing]

Jorge Medina-Madrid, Cedar Waxwing. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/609497. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Cerulean Warbler

Matt Wistrand, Cerulean Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/420726. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Meena Haribal, Chestnut-sided Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/563741. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Chimney Swallow [also: Chimney Swift]

Dan Lane, Chimney Swift. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/180468. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Chipping Sparrow

Jim Berry, Chipping Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/645149. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Clapper Rail

Nils Navarro, Clapper Rail. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/659432. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Clay-colored Sparrow

James Bradley, Clay-colored Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/379021. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Cliff Swallow

Andrew Spencer, American Cliff Swallow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/203606.[File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Connecticut Warbler

Don Gorney, Connecticut Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/371379. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Cooper’s Hawk

Sunny Tseng, Cooper’s Hawk. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/720968. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Coot

Sunny Tseng, American Coot. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/531516. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Crow

Caio Brito, American Crow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/556240. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Dark-eyed Junco [also: Snowbird]

Ned Bohman, Dark-eyed Junco. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/660255. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Dickcissel

Paul Driver, Dickcissel. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/658540. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Dipper Duck [also: Common Grebe]

Max Noack, American Dipper Duck. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/502746. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Downy Woodpecker

Don Henise, Downy Woodpecker. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/897608. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Dunlin

Ricardo Hevia, Dunlin. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/674563. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Eider Duck

Lars Edenius, Common Eider. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/549046. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Evening Grosbeak

Matt Wistrand, Evening Grosbeak. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/374106. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Field Sparrow

Brian Hendrix, Field Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/489162. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Flicker [also: Golden-winged Woodpecker]

Bruce Lagerquist, Northern Flicker. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/604689. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Gadwall

Beatrix Saadi-Varchmin, Gadwall. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/674472. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Gallinule

Richard E. Webster, Common Gallinule. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/465598. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Glossy Ibis

Jordi Calvet, Glossy Ibis. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/530552. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Golden Eagle

Lars Edenius, Golden Eagle. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/453324. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Golden Plover

Andrew Spencer, Golden Plover. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/149502. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Sue Riffe, Golden-crowned Kinglet. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/419366. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Golden-winged Warbler

Paul Driver, Golden-winged Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/658548. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Goldfinch

Sue Riffe, American Goldfinch. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/612292. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Goshawk

Stanislas Wroza, Northern Goshawk. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/626549. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Grackle [also: Crow Blackbird]

David Darrell-Lambert, Common Grackle. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/476561. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Grass Wren [also: Short-billed Marsh Wren; Short-billed Sedge Wren]

Manuel Grosselet, Grass Wren. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/579160. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Great Blue Heron

Sue Riffe, Great Blue Heron. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/419194. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Great Crested Flycatcher

Bernard Bousquet, Great Crested Flycatcher. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/587977. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Great Egret [also: Great White Egret]

Manuel Grosselet, Great Egret. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/663143. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Great Grey Owl

Lars Edenius, Great Grey Owl. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/653979. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Great Horned Owl

Christopher McPherson, Great Horned Owl. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/691461. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Greater Yellowlegs

Patricio Mena Valenzuela, Greater Yellowlegs. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/477317. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Green Heron

Johana Zuluaga-Bonilla, Green Heron. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/153094. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

Green-winged Teal

Ves, Green-winged Teal. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/459927. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Grey Catbird

Sunny, Grey catbird. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/484144. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Grey Plover [also: Black-bellied Plover]

Uku Paal, Grey Plover. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/675209. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Grey-cheeked Thrush

Seth Beaudreault (Toolik Field Station), Grey-cheeked Thrush. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/940496. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Gyrfalcon

Stein Ø. Nilsen, Gyrfalcon. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/428386. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Hairy Woodpecker

Manuel Grosselet, Hairy Woodpecker. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/681647. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Harrier [also: Marsh Hawk]

J.R. Rigby, Northern Harrier. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/290060. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Harris’s Sparrow

Ian Cruickshank, Harris’s Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/210755. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Hawk Owl

Stein Ø. Nilsen, Northern Hawk Owl. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/148674. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

Henslow’s Sparrow [also: Henslow’s Bunting]

David A. Brinkman, Henslow’s Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/807504. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Hermit Thrush

Steve Hampton, Hermit Thrush. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/558358. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Herring Gull

William Whitehead, American Herring Gull. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/510712. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Hooded Merganser

Jim Berry, Hooded Merganser. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/317679. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Hooded Warbler

Jacob Saucier, Hooded Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/499557. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Horned Lark

Frode Falkenberg, Horned Lark. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/658883. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

House Finch

Paul Marvin, House Finch. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/679337. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

House Sparrow [also: English Sparrow]

João Tomás, House Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/952608. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

House Wren

Thomas Magarian, House Wren. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/658907. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Hudsonian Godwit [also: Hudsonian Curlew]

Bernabe Lopez-Lanus, Hudsonian Godwit. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/48617. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

Indian Peafowl [also: Peacock]

Francesco Barberini, Indian Peafowl. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/812476. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Indigo Bunting [also: Indigo-Bird]

David Welch, Indigo Bunting. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/579108. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Kentucky Warbler

Sue Riffe, Kentucky Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/417604. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Killdeer [also: Killdeer Plover]

Nick Komar, Killdeer. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/321383. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

King Bird

Meena Haribal, Eastern Kingbird. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/561409. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

King Rail

John Hoye, King Rail. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/139985. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

Lapland Longspur

Stein Ø. Nilsen, Lapland Longspur. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/663131. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Lapwing

Paul Kelly, Northern Lapwing. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/897850. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Lark Sparrow

Brad Banner, Lark Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/684352. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Least Bittern

Henry Miller Alexandre, Least Bittern. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/499833. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Least Flycatcher

Jim Berry, Least Flycatcher. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/472219. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Least Sandpiper

Paul Marvin, Least Sandpiper. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/453003. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Lesser Scaup

Thomas Magarian, Lesser Scaup. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/334315. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Lesser Yellowlegs [also: Lesser Tell-Tale]

Jayrson Araujo De Oliveira, Lesser Yellowlegs. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/674365. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Lincoln’s Sparrow [also: Lincoln’s Finch]

Sue Riffe, Lincoln’s Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/494247. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Little Auk [also: Dovekie]

Stein Ø. Nilsen, Little Auk. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/191434. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Loggerhead Shrike [also: White-rumped Loggerhead Shrike]

Ed Pandolfino, Loggerhead Shrike. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/455607. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Long-eared Owl

Adam Gruszczyński, Long-eared Owl. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/662640. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Loon [also: Great Northern Diver]

Valerie Heemstra, Common Loon. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/832712. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Louisiana Waterthrush [also: Long-billed Waterthrush]

Sue Riffe, Louisiana Waterthrush. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/417605. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Magnolia Warbler [also: Black-and-Yellow Warbler]

Sue Riffe, Magnolia Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/382124. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Mallard

Richard Brahmstaedt, Mallard. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/893489. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Marsh Wren

Paul Marvin, Marsh Wren. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/582639. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Meadowlark

Manuel Grosselet, Eastern Meadowlark. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/645463. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Merganser

Lars Edenius, Common Merganser. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/644424. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Merlin [also: Pigeon Hawk]

Andrew Harrop, Merlin. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/597137. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Mockingbird

David A. Brinkman, Northern Mockingbird. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/677297. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Mourning Dove [also: Carolina Dove]

Bruce Lagerquist, Mourning Dove. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/430095. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Mourning Warbler

Paul Driver, Mourning Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/448187. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Mute Swan

Dean McDonnell, Mute Swan. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/787572. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Myrtle Warbler

Martin St-Michel, Myrtle Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/467698. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Nashville Warbler

Bobby Wilcox, Nashville Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/570338. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Nighthawk (Common)

Christopher Takacs, Common Nighthawk. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/583103. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Nightingale

Jorge Leitão, Nightingale. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/897939. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Jayrson Araujo De Oliveira, Olive-sided Flycatcher. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/534098. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Orange-crowned Warbler

Steve Hampton, Orange-crowned Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/656348. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Orchard Oriole

Eric Zawatski, Orchard Oriole. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/559298. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Osprey [also: Fish Hawk]

Manuel Grosselet, Western Osprey. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/573484. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Ovenbird [also: Golden-crowned Thrush]

Russ Wigh, Ovenbird. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/570992. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Palm Warbler [also: Yellow Red-Poll Warbler]

Richard E. Webster, Palm Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/189607. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Parula [also: Blue Yellow-backed Warbler]

Russ Wigh, Northern Parula. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/570973. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Pectoral Sandpiper

Patrik Åberg, Pectoral Sandpiper. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/406470. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Peregrine Falcon [also: Duck Hawk]

Gabriel Leite, Peregrine Falcon. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/357721. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Pheasant

Ireneusz Oleksik, Common Pheasant. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/641398. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Philadelphia Vireo

Sue Riffe, Philadelphia Vireo. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/624416. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Phoebe

Lance A. M. Benner, Eastern Phoebe. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/323217. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Pileated Woodpecker

Christopher McPherson, Pileated Woodpecker. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/599834. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Pine Grosbeak

Diane Labarre, Pine Grosbeak. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/452496. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Pine Siskin [also: Pine Finch]

Richard E. Webster, Pine Siskin. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/677395. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Pine Warbler [also: Pine-creeping Warbler]

Christopher McPherson, Pine Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/602049. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Pintail [also: Pin-tailed Duck]

Jens Kirkeby, Northern Pintail. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/381982. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Piping Plover

Patrick Turgeon, Piping Plover. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/328023. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Prairie Warbler

Eric Zawatski, Prairie Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/583820. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Prothonotary Warbler

David Darrell-Lambert, Prothonotary Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/476998. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Purple Finch [also: Linnet]

Ed Pandolfino, Purple Finch. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/655762. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Purple Martin

Scott Olmstead, Purple Martin. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/675811. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Raven

Hannu Varkki, Northern Raven. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/552737. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Red Crossbill [also: Common Crossbill]

Lars Edenius, Red Crossbill. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/668643. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Red Fox Sparrow [also: Fox Sparrow; Fox-colored Sparrow]

Doug Hynes, Red Fox Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/613533. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Red Phalarope [also: Northern Phalarope]

Stein Ø. Nilsen, Red Phalarope. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/424557. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Brian Hendrix, Red-bellied Woodpecker. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/563618. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Red-breasted Merganser

Andrew Spencer, Red-breasted Merganser. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/141724. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Gabriel Leite, Red-breasted Nuthatch. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/421281. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Red-eyed Vireo

Sue Riffe, Red-eyed Vireo. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/624419. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Red-headed Woodpecker

John A. Middleton Jr., Red-headed Woodpecker. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/733262. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Red-necked Grebe

Uku Paal, Red-necked Grebe. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/804821. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Red-shouldered Hawk

Brian Hendrix, Red-shouldered Hawk. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/564543. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Red-tailed Hawk

William Whitehead, Red-tailed Hawk. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/573429. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Red-winged Blackbird

Ed Pandolfino, Red-winged Blackbird. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/651824. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Redpoll [also: Lesser Redpoll]

Juha Saari, Common Redpoll. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/610600. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Redstart

Melissa Hafting, American Redstart. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/566620. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Ring-billed Gull

Stanislas Wroza, Ring-billed Gull. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/417720. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Robin

Aziza Cooper, American Robin. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/647154. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Rock Dove [also: Rock Pigeon]

Sreekumar Chirukandoth, Rock Dove. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/636632. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Nick Komar, Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/572067. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Rough-legged Buzzard [also: Rough-legged Hawk]

Lars Edenius, Rough-legged Buzzard. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/645345. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Rough-winged Swallow

Paul Marvin, Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/534846. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Richard E. Webster, Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/628827. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Patrick Turgeon, Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/139834. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

Ruddy Pigeom [We have used the song of this New World bird to call attention to the absent song of its extinct kin: the Passenger or Wild Pigeon.]

Jarrod Swackhamer, Ruddy Pigeon. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/521570. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Ruffed Grouse [also: Partridge]

Jeff Dyck, Ruffed Grouse. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/416168. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Rusty Blackbird [also: Rusty Grackle]

Mike Schanbacher, Rusty Blackbird. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/682348. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Sand Martin

Xavier Riera, Sand Martin. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/654974. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Sanderling

Jorge Leitão, Sanderling. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/767560. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Savannah Sparrow

Manuel Grosselet, Savannah Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/669262. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Saw-whet Owl

Ted Floyd, Northern Saw-whet Owl. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/565795. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Scarlet Tanager

David Welch, Scarlet Tanager. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/572254. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Joshua Stevenson, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/247701. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Screech Owl

Paul Driver, Eastern Screech Owl. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/833215. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Semipalmated Plover

Nick Komar, Semipalmated Plover. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/667364. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Steve Hampton, Semipalmated Sandpiper. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/420273. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Anderson Felipe, Sharp-shinned Hawk. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/451365. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Short-eared Owl

Romuald Mikusek, Short-eared Owl. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/669606. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Shoveler [also: Shoveller Duck]

Stein Ø. Nilsen, Northern Shoveler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/371900. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Shrike [also: Great Northern Shrike]

Matt Longabaugh, Northern Shrike. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/559956. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Snow Bunting

Peter Stronach, Snow Bunting. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/570027. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Snow Goose

Paul Marvin, Snow Goose. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/143615. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

Snowy Egret [also: Snowy Heron]

Bernabe Lopez-Lanus, Snowy Egret. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/50905. [File Modified].( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

Snowy Owl

Tero Linjama, Snowy Owl. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/343144. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Solitary Sandpiper

Jayrson Araujo De Oliveira, Solitary Sandpiper. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/443440. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Solitary Vireo [also: Blue-headed Vireo]

Caio Brito, Blue-headed Vireo. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/556669. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Song Sparrow

Paul Marvin, Song Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/664838. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Sora [also: Carolina Rail]

Eric DeFonso, Sora. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/580996. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Sparrow Hawk [also: Kestrel]

Jayrson Araujo De Oliveira, American Kestrel. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/674589. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Spotted Sandpiper

Paul Marvin, Spotted Sandpiper. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/232636. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Starling

Stanislas Wroza, Common Starling. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/682941. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Summer Tanager

Mauricio Cuellar Ramirez (@Birding.travel), Summer Tanager. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/609577. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Swainson’s Thrush [also: Olive-backed Thrush]

Thomas Magarian, Swainson’s Thrush. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/663761. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Swamp Sparrow

Doug Hynes, Swamp Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/613096. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Tennessee Warbler

Keith Corliss, Tennessee Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/661274. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Titlark [also: Buff-bellied Pipit]

Andrew Spencer, Buff-bellied Pipit. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/203608. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Towhee [also: Chewink]

Brian Hendrix, Eastern Towhee. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/575699. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Tree Sparrow

Steve Hampton, American Tree Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/562185. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Tree Swallow [also: White-bellied Swallow]

William Whitehead, Tree Swallow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/544225. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Tufted Titmouse

Jim Berry, Tufted Titmouse. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/649331. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Tundra Swan [also: Whistling Swan]

Michel Veldt, Tundra Swan. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/834093. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Turkey Vulture

Guillermo Treboux, Turkey Vulture. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/748979. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Two-barred Crossbill [also: White-winged Crossbill]

Stein Ø. Nilsen, Two-barred Crossbill. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/503029. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Upland Sandpiper [also: Upland Plover]

Matt Wistrand, Upland Sandpiper. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/656680. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Veery [also: Wilson’s Thrush]

Sue Riffe, Veery. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/574514. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Vesper Sparrow [also: Bay-winged Bunting]

Bruce Lagerquist, Vesper Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/714140. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Virginia Rail

Scott Crabtree, Virginia Rail. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/621187. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Warbling Vireo

Manuel Grosselet, Warbling Vireo. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/650401. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Waterthrush [also: Short-billed Waterthrush]

Matt Wistrand, Northern Waterthrush. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/414095. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Western Kingbird

Ed Pandolfino, Western Kingbird. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/570382. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Western Meadowlark

Paul Marvin, Western Meadowlark. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/698318. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Western Tanager [also: Wing-barred Tanager]

Sue Riffe, Western Tanager. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/494384. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Whip-poor-will

Sue Riffe, Eastern Whip-poor-will. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/860759. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

White-breasted Nuthatch [also: White-bellied Nuthatch]

Sue Riffe, White-breasted Nuthatch. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/381798. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

White-crowned Sparrow

Steve Hampton, White-crowned Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/656355. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

White-eyed Vireo

Keith Corliss, White-eyed Vireo. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/660444. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

White-throated Sparrow

Stanislas Wroza, White-throated Sparrow. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/730547. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Wild Goose [also: Canada Goose]

Stanislas Wroza, Canada Goose. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/557197. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Willow Flycatcher [also: Traill’s Flycatcher]

Phil Brown, Willow Flycatcher. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/433073. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Wilson’s Snipe

Steve Hampton, Wilson’s Snipe. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/420227. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Wilson’s Warbler [also: Black-capped Flycatching Warbler]

Linzy, Wilson’s Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/665160. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Winter Wren

Jim Berry, Winter Wren. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/721750. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Wood Duck

Antonio Xeira, Wood Duck. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/347194. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Wood Pewee

Steve Hampton, Eastern Wood Pewee. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/666125. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Wood Thrush

Brian Hendrix, Wood Thrush. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/565547. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Woodcock

John Baur, American Woodcock. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/538039. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Worm-eating Warbler

Ted Floyd, Worm-eating Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/368400. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Yellow Rail

Peter Wilton, Yellow Rail. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/344711. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Yellow Warbler

Sue Riffe, Yellow Warbler. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/665660. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Jarquín G. Orlando, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/335895. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker [also: Yellow-bellied Woodpecker]

Steve Pelikan, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/302918. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Marcelo da Rocha, Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/684511. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Yellow-breasted Chat [also: Yellowthroat]

Richard E. Webster, Yellow-breasted Chat. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/619198. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Yellow-throated Vireo

Keith Corliss, Yellow-throated Vireo. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/661304. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Yellowthroat [also: Maryland Yellowthroat]

Thomas Magarian, Common Yellowthroat. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/531276. [File Modified]. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Searching the Bird Archive

“It is rare for a bird to leave evidence, even fleetingly, of how it has moved through the world.” —Tim Dee, A Year on the Wing

Bird files are searchable by species’ common names; appearance on Dickinson’s ‘bird list’—i.e., the list we have constructed of the wild songbirds named in her poems; and current (C21) conservation status.

Links on the Individual Bird pages allow users to access those manuscripts in Dickinson’s oeuvre linked with a specific bird species (“Affiliated Manuscripts”) and to identify the individual field recordings we have used in the Bird Archive (“Source Data”).

The Data Firmament

Scope

The Data Firmament is an experiment in speculative worldling and a sound installation on the shoreline of the Anthropocene. ln the Firmament, our sorting of fragmentary data from Dickinson’s world—notes on meteorological phenomena made by 19th-century keepers of Amherst’s weather records; recordings of the calls and songs of the birds named by natural historians traversing the region before ornithology was recognized as a science; sounds composed by the Valley’s pre- and post-Industrial Revolution technologies; and the echoes made by Dickinson’s bird poems themselves—both conjures the spectral melody of an old world where the coming of climate crisis was still a sub-sub song in the bright Book of Nature and fathoms through our experience of Anthropocenic wonder the vibrations from the air of a future world without us. While the deep architecture of the Firmament evokes epic, geologic time—the Connecticut River Valley suspended in the primordial world of the ancient rift zone created by the breaking apart of the supercontinent Pangaea 175 million years ago—the poems and birds flown from the Archives to its digital ether reappear as lively lyric forces whose quickening in the present instant may drive quantum events in space-times still foreclosed to us.

Fathom measure. Measure fathom.

In the end, while the Firmament seeks to disseminate the bare data and sonic fragments of birds and weather and poems from 150 springs ago, it never offers a documentary sense of place. Instead, the momentarily re-wilded birds and poems and weather events of the Firmament are fleeting guides to a chaology of orders, coordinates of a moving, numinous, extensional world evacuated on “billows of circumference” before we ever fully get our bearings. If, in moments, the Firmament unfurls galaxies of birds and poems moving in the perfect meters and measures of a lost past world, so at others it fathoms the ecological distances and utterly changed meters between Dickinson’s world and our own.

Like the ecological sound-art projects that arc its nearest muses—Douglas Quinn’s Fathom (2010), Jana Winderer’s Spring Bloom in the Marginal Ice Zone (2018), Krista Caballero and Frank Eckberg’s Birding the Future (2013-the present), Peter Cusack’s “Chernobyl Dawn song”—the Data Firmament arises out of a poetics of remediation that both acknowledges harm—the wounded ecology of the world, a Universe “stricken”—and imagines the possibility of its fleeting restoration or through the tools of language, art, and embodied listening. While her time-shifted birds are measures of the immeasurable ways in which we have altered the world, so they may be envoys from a future where the bright fragments of a shattered eschatology compose a new paradise out of the “proceedings of a bird song.”

The Firmament’s mode is memorial and hopeful.

If there is a message in the data, it is that, for now, a fragile, fugitive beauty still prevails.

Data Visualizations

In the Data Firmament a horizon line divides the space into Day and Night, World and No-World. In the space above the horizon, a firmamental arc marks the upper limit of the Firmament’s expanse; below the horizon, an inverse shadow arc appears in the streaming dark that might scroll on forever. To set the still, veiled world of the Firmament in motion, the visitor taps the play-bar, triggering a wheel made to repeatedly travel a circuit along the arc and across the seasons of the year.

Weather

The atmospheric data of the Firmament is drawn from The Snell Meteorological Journal, a five volume record of the weather from 1835 to 1902 kept by Ebenezer Strong Snell, professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Amherst College, and his daughter Sabra Clark Snell. [14] Since atmospheric fluctuations in the Northern Hemisphere conform to no known pattern, we have mined data from the year 1864, that kairotic moment in Dickinson’s itinerary when she bound the final fascicle and entered a new period of poetic surge outside these gatherings, perhaps outside gathering itself.

The oneiric, at times other-worldly feeling of the Data Firmament is connected to the uncanniness Dickinson perceived—sensed—in Nature as well as Art. In Day’s hemisphere, the modulating colors of the sky indicating the eternal fluctuations of climate are derived from Abraham Gottlob Werner’s 1814 Nomenclature of Colours, as interpreted by the 19th-century flower painter Patrick Syme, who adapted them to zoology, botany, chemistry, minerology, anatomy, and the arts; the visual renderings of the dominant genres of each month’s clouds are based on paintings and sky drawings from the notebooks of the Hudson River School painters Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, and Thomas Doughty; and the presence of the winds is indicated by the random drift patterns of the birds in sky [15]. Below the horizon line, in the region of Night, the “there is” of climate is made manifest through eruptions of rarer phenomena of the magnetosphere—the fall of meteors and the glow of the aurora borealis—whose renderings here were influenced by the highly stylized 19th-century images of these events housed at the Getty and Smithsonian Museums. And just along the horizon line, lie two divining instruments: a circle timeline graph—its design inspired by the early graphs of William Playfair—plots the monthly measurements of rain- and snow-fall in the Day world, while a visualization the Firmament’s soundscape unfurls across the Night world: a moving transverse wave recalling the forms generated by the 19th-century machines designed to depict the principles of waves central to a new understanding of the physical world.

Birds

Along with the weather, all of the birds believed by 19th-century Natural Historians to have lived in or visited Amherst, MA in that century exist in the sky-vault above the horizon line, with resident birds appearing in the lower sky of the Firmament and migrants occupying the upper sky of the Firmament and, sometimes, breaching the free space above it. Three different icons—their forms influenced by Orra White Hitchcock’s 19th-century pen and ink on cotton renderings of fossil footprints—represent, respectively, the classifications of “common,” “uncommon,” and “rare” bird species of the region assigned by 19th-century natural historians, while the icons’ five graduated sizes suggest the birds’ relative masses—from lightest (just 2.9 grams) to heaviest ( 11,800 grams). The flickering on and off of the icons reveals what was then known of the patterns of the birds’ nineteenth-century migration cycles.

Poems

The birds share the sky with poems. While the cyclical migration patterns of the birds are simulated by their motions within and appearances and disappearances across the seasons, the condition of Dickinson’s bird-poems as series that can never again be added to is reflected in their setting as still data points perfectly visible in the Firmament at every hour and through every season of the year. In the sky of the Firmament, all of Dickinson’s “bird” poems, represented by the tiny “+”s she often used to mark pressure points of variance in her work, appear in the season of their composition or copying, or, in the case of “sent” poems, the season of their circulation. While those seasonally-dated poems that never left Dickinson’s private archive during her life shelter with resident birds above the horizon line but inside the upper arc of the sky-vault, those that seasonally-dated poems that circulated beyond that private archive share the realm occupied by the migrating birds, high in the firmament. Poems that cannot be assigned to a season, but to a year only—or to no year at all—appear in the streaming dark below the horizon, with those retained by her within the bounds of the inverse shadow arc and those sent out of her archive falling beyond it.

Although day is usually associated with liveliness and night with tranquility, liveness and tranquility are present in both hemispheres of the Firmament. For instance, while the shadow-shapes of the birds are visible only in the Daylit-world where they crowd the sky, the flares of poems in the Night-world mark out the Earth’s geomagnetic field to shine the invisible migrating passerines’ way. In the remote-controlled sky, poems and birds may together compose new, unknown constellations.

Data Soundings

Data Choirs

The wheel’s circuit across the firmamental arc stirs the sounds of nineteenth-century Amherst—or, rather, the descendants of those sounds captured by recording technologies from the twenty-first century—from the silence into which they have sunken in our collective unconscious, stirring too something akin to our memory / intuition of other worlds.

In the Firmament’s twelve tracks—or, as we call them, “data choirs”— sounding the months of the year, each month sounds for a duration of two minutes; each season for six, and a year’s revolution sounds in just twenty-four, the number of hours in a solar day. While most of the sounds are audible to the human ear without amplification, the data choirs also include cryptic sounds at the far edge of human hearing . . . the sounds of insects and other “tiny aliens” living in hidden niches beside us. Visitors may choose to listen to the year without interruptions, but they may also move the wheel back and forth along the firmamental arc to listen to any point in the year.

“In sound I am in depth,” writes phenomenologist Salome Voegelin. [16] To compose a data choir for a given month, we began by sampling the voices of all birds observed within that temporal zone by nineteenth-century natural historians. Their classifications of the birds’ occurrence—“common,” “uncommon,” or “rare/accidental”—guided an algorithm that initially shaped the duration of each bird’s sounding and the silence between them. At times in the compositional process, we isolated particular pitches and frequencies; at other times we let ourselves be carried along by their combinatory measures and melodies. Across this scaffold of sound, we wove sonic traces of the weather-scape mined from entries in the Snell Meteorological Journal for 1864. And finally, we tuned this layered, ghosted chorus to the secret cadences of our inner audition—our experience, arising through the long practice of silent reading, of the sound of Dickinson’s poems de-territorialized from both the unrecoverable sound of her voice and the pages of her manuscripts and drifting in our minds among the sensations of clouds of light, wind, birdsong, thought, time, and air. There is, as Dickinson wrote, “a lonesome Glee” (Fr) that arises in the “other time” of listening, and we have delt it in the “reportless” space of the Firmament. We have heard, too, a distant inundation of “A Music + numerous as space” sounding inside the small bones of our inner ears and deep in our minds’ more speculative chambers.

The data choirs enjoin us to dwell in the life-of-things through the sound-of-things. Ultimately, the compositional form of the data choirs is shaped by a radical compression of time—one to which no single consciousness could bear full witness. Through the choirs, the listener enters what sound theorist Murray Schafer called “the acousmatic situation,” encountering sounds unfastened from their causal origins, severed from what is visible, tangible, measurable. In this dissociation, sounds may be apprehended as something other than themselves—as more uncanny and as more alive. Like the earliest analog recordings made by field researchers in the nineteenth century that simultaneously captured the voices of wild species and transfigured them through the use of then-new technologies, the sound of the data choirs— beautiful and strange—is both something that might exist forever in the mind of Nature and like no sound ever heard before on this Earth.

Liner Notes

The Data Choirs are accompanied by spare narratives—”Liner Notes”—documenting, at times harmonizing, the peregrinations of a human listener inside the seasons of weather and birds and poems. Since in the Firmament the relations between and among weather and birds and poems cannot be conceived and plotted in advance of our encounters with them, in place of a positivistic cartography of the listener’s passage across space and time, the liner notes offer a sense of their fluctuating attunements to a sound-world somewhere both inside and outside Dickinson’s west-facing writing windows.

[1] The following eleven poems, identified by Jefferey Simons as connected with Dickinson’s lyric ornithology, are not included in dickisnonsbirds: Fr. 1 (juvenilia; outside the temporal boundaries of the archive); Fr 90 (the reference is to a domestic bird: Chanticleer, not a wild bird); Fr 198 (the reference is to a nest only); Fr 1019 (only an implied or ancillary reference to bird); Fr 1182 (only an implied or ancillary reference to bird); Fr 1352 (only an implied or ancillary reference to bird); Fr 1368 (only an implied or ancillary reference to bird); Fr 1408 (only an implied or ancillary reference to bird); Fr 1470 (only an implied or ancillary reference to bird); Fr 1577 (only an implied or ancillary reference to bird); Fr 1603 (only an implied or ancillary reference to bird). See Jefferey Simons, “Dickinson’s Lyric Ornithology,” Emily Dickinson Journal 28.1 (2019): 1-22. We hope that a later iteration of this work will include all of Dickinson’s writings alluding to birds.

[2] R. W. Franklin’s 1986 The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson, 2 vols. (Cambridge, MA & London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press) is the most comprehensive source of information on Dickinson’s paper types in the fascicles and the unbound bifolium sheets. Jay Leyda’s cataloging notes in the Amherst College Library are also a valuable source for information on paper. Jen Bervin’s recent research on Dickinson’s papers will add significantly to our knowledge of Dickinson’s material productions. One long-term goal of our project is to update information on Dickinson’s papers through additional archival research.

[3] R. W. Franklin’s 1998 The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Variorum Edition, 3 vols. (Cambridge, MA & London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press) is the principal source for the dates assigned to Dickinson’s poems. In addition to Franklin’s variorum, we have drawn on Miller and Mitchell’s judicious re-dating of manuscripts in The Letters of Emily Dickinson (Cambridge & London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2024).

[4] Seasons in the Poem Archive are defined as follows: spring=March, April, May; summer=June, July, August; fall=September, October, November; winter=December, January, February.

[5] The advent of new technologies of digital reproduction makes possible the representation of elements from both the manuscript and print traditions but does not necessarily collapse the distance between them. We gesture towards this nascent tradition in our use of just one hand-drawn element—the boundary lines found in Dickinson’s manuscripts—in our typographic transcriptions. Here, two stylized forms only of line are used.

[6] We are always seeing the manuscript not only through the veil of print but also under the horizons of the many scholarly editions of her work — Todd, Johnson, Franklin, Smith and Hart, Werner, Werner and Bervin, Miller, Miller and Mitchell, etc.—with their accreted editorial choices and conventions. In the print tradition, R. W. Franklin’s 1998 variorum—a culminating act of scholarship—currently exerts the most influence on editors and readers. This is not because the Franklin variorum perfectly discerns the physiognomy of Dickinson’s manuscripts and translates the signs and marks inscribed on them as Dickinson intended—how could we ever even know for sure what she intended?—in a new medium, but, rather, because he evolves a rigorously consistent internal system for representing these various marks and signs within the editorial (and print) horizons it defines. As a result. Franklin’s transcriptions have been naturalized in the reader’s mind—so much so that even the reader who turns their eyes upon the manuscript after years of reading in print sees the clear letter forms and punctuation of that edition in place of Dickinson’s more various ambiguous forms.

[7] The identification of ecological processes in Dickinson’s poems is an on-going project; it will take many readers to complete this preliminary catalogue.

[8] Jefferey Simons (Department of English Philology, University of Huelva) gifted his research materials for his essay “Dickinson’s Lyric Ornithology” to this project. The exquisite notes on the avian behaviors described in Dickinson’s poems are his distinctive contribution to this archive. His essays on Dickinson have appeared in European Journal of American Studies (2017), The Emily Dickinson Journal (2019), and Amerikastudien / American Studies (2020). Other essays on the poetry and prose of James Joyce have appeared in Joyce Studies Annual (2002, 2013, 2018), European Journal of English Studies (2007), Genetic Joyce Studies (2010), and James Joyce Quarterly (2014).

[9] In the last fifty years, almost 30% of all North American birds have disappeared, with extensive losses in bird populations from every habitat (link).

[10] Clark’s list incorporates data from the 1880 lists made by another Amherst resident, W. A. Stearns, whose annotated list of the birds of Amherst was published in The Amherst Record: June 13, July 11, 18, 25, and August 8, 1883. Since Dickinson only ever used the common names for birds in her poems, many of whom exist in multiple species, a given bird’s identification in her work remains unsettled. In these cases, which include Blackbirds, Cuckoos, Eagles, Orioles, Owls, Plovers, Sparrows, Swans and Wrens, we have included as possibilities all species listed by H. L. Clark in The Birds of Amherst & Hampshire County (1887).

[11] Emmons’ 1833 record, published in that year in Edward Hitchcock’s “Report on the Geology, Minerology, Botany and Zoology of Massachusetts,” identifies 160 bird species in Massachusetts. The original MS was described as “written by Professor Emmons, in ink, in a small and cramped hand, and cover[ing] seven pages of foolscap” by Ruthven Deane (see The Auk 18.4 [1901]: 403-05.). Allen’s 1864 Catalogue of the Birds found at Springfield, Mass., with notes on their Migrations, Habits, etc.; together with a List of those Birds found in the State and not yet observed at Springfield, originally printed in the September issue of the Proceedings of the Essex Institute at Salem, Vol. IV, No. 2, greatly extends Emmons’ record, contributing notes on 296 species of birds he identified in the State. Given Springfield’s geographical proximity to Amherst, Allen’s notes on the 195 birds he observed in this location are especially salutary.

[12] The Cornell Lab’s BirdCast project, for example, currently scans the night skies via the Nexrad radar network, conjuring localized bird-migration forecasts via a fusion of machine learning, cloud computing, and big-data analytics.

[13] All bird sounds and sonographs come from the archive xeon-canto.org (www.xeno-canto.org), a website for sharing recordings of wildlife sounds from all across the world started in 2005 by Bob Planqué and Willem-Pier Vellinga and maintained by a small team of admins (Bob, WP, Sander Pieterse, Jonathon Jongsma and Rolf de By) with crucial assistance from Naturalis Biodiversity Center, especially Ruud Altenburg, and all of the xeno-canto community. Xeno-canto is run by the Xeno-canto foundation (or officially Stichting Xeno-canto voor natuurgeluiden), a charity (Dutch “ANBI”) from the Netherlands. Weather sounds and sounds from the anthrophony were collected from open sources online or recorded by us.

[NOTE] The term “Data Firmament” calls out for some further commentary. At its root, “data” comes from the Latin datum, meaning “that which is given.” From its etymology data is illuminated not as the thing itself — not inherent — but as something recorded and extracted—a gift or trace from the world as it registers itself through our instruments. All data is rooted in phenomenology: something happened, something moved, something changed—and that movement left a mark; all data comes after the fact, as a representation, a trace. | At its root, “firmament” comes from the Latin firmamentum, meaning support, strength, or prop—something that holds up or upholds. In the Vulgate Bible, the Latin firmamentum was used to render the Hebrew word raqia‘ (רָקִ֫יעַ), from the verb raqa‘ —to beat out or spread thin, as a metal worker might beat a sheet of metal—and suggesting something like a thin, hammered dome stretching over the Earth. In Genesis, the raqia‘ is a cosmic divider, separating the “waters above” from the “waters below,” holding the celestial and terrestrial in relation. The Firmament is thus a structure both strong and stretched, something holding up the cosmos, organizing the heavens, but made of something delicately wrought—perhaps even ephemeral. | The term “Data Firmament” suggests a techno-natural theology. In the largest sense, the Data Firmament embodies a kind of artificial raqia‘, made not of metal or stars, but of bits of information from satellite grids, data clouds, algorithmic networks. It might function as a new canopy of fragmentary information organizing our human and more-than-human worlds and an interface where messages may still pass between them.

[14] The Snell Meteorological Journal (1835-1902) contains 5 volumes, arranged chronologically and includes data on temperature, barometric pressure, wind direction and strength, clouds, sky, precipitation as well as remarks by the recorders. All five volumes of the Journal are housed in the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections.

[15] Currently, the drift patterns of the birds do not reflect the data from the Snell Weather Record on the directions and force of the winds, but only suggest the presence of winds in the skies over Amherst. A future iteration of this work will integrate the actual data into the drift patterns.

[16] Salome Voegelin. Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art. (London: Continuum, 2010), 133.

Dickinson's Birds

A listening machine

The Archives

Poem Archive

Scope

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Environmental Phenomena in the Poems

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Primary Sources

Bird Archive

Bird Data: Presence & Historical Field Notes

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Bird Data: Sound & Spectograph Files

Searching the Bird Archive

The Data Firmament

Scope

Data Visualizations

Data Soundings