Eyes to the Skies: Birds As Inspiration in the Writing of Charles Burchfield and Jonathan Rosen
Jun 23, 2010

For the upcoming June 25 program, Backyard Birds: An evening of prose and music celebrating Charles Burchfield, we turn an eye to the skies. The artist Charles Burchfield wrote nearly 10,000 pages of journal entries over the course of his life, entries that are filled with references to both his sightings of birds and their songs. From bluebirds to pigeons, robins to bobolinks, Burchfield often wrote about his daily encounters with birds in his backyard or while out walking in the woods. Author Jonathan Rosen was also inspired to write about the birds he saw in Central Park, his “backyard,” with his book The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature. For this program, Rosen joins us to read excerpts from Burchfield’s journals. 

Rosen’s birdwatching began by overhearing a man talking about the warblers passing through Central Park. Determined to find out more, Rosen signed up for a beginning birding class at the Audubon Society. In The Life of the Skies Rosen weaves between his own experiences and those of other notable birders including John James Audubon and Teddy Roosevelt. 

One of Rosen’s many great observations in his book that resonates with Burchfield’s writing and paintings is the relationship between the rare bird and the backyard bird. Rosen writes, “The great trick of birdwatching, which gives it such large application, is holding things in balance. It is seeing infinity in the common, and pursuing a bird of paradise until it turns back into a backyard bird.” The warblers are the perfect example of this; colorful songbirds that migrate from Central and South America, for a few weeks each spring they become New York’s backyard birds. 

Rosen also notes, “birdwatching is always an unexpected as well as an expected quest.” The June 25 program will be a mix of both the unexpected and the expected. Perhaps you will see your own backyard, wherever it may be, in a new light too. 

By Julie Thomson, Coordinator of Public Programs