Long-tailed Jaeger by Jesus Medina
Super Plan Laundromat, 754A St. Nicholas Ave, New York, NY 10031
Installed:听07/24/22
About the Bird: Long-tailed Jaegers spend most of the year out of sight, over the open sea, flying inland to tundra only to breed. There they swoop and zag gracefully to attract mates and hunt prey. Because the Arctic is warming faster than elsewhere on Earth, Long-tailed Jaegers are particularly vulnerable to changes to their habitat. Sixty percent of their summer range, including nearly all of their Alaska territory, is projected to be lost at the current pace of global warming.
About the Artist:听 is an artist and graphic designer based in New York City. For this project he gamely took on a new artistic challenge: working in acrylic on a metal grate. Medina says the Long-tailed Jaeger appealed to him for its mysterious aesthetic, resembling something of听a seagull 鈥渋f it had a little extra going for it鈥 with a black cap, pointed wings, and a long, sleek tail during breeding season, 鈥渏ust to top off that fighter jet look.鈥 Although it appears serene, he points out it鈥檚 a very opportunistic bird, swooping in from the sea鈥攚hich Medina nodded to with the illusion of a tunnel leading to the shore鈥攖o expand its marine diet with smaller birds, rodents, and berries, even chasing other birds to steal their food.