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On a Saturday afternoon in June, volunteers sat at tables in the Chicago Architecture Center quietly building birds out of scrap fabric. One cut out black strips for a Magnolia Warbler’s breast, while another overlapped brown and black to fashion a House Sparrow. 

Each cloth creation memorial­izes one of 10,836 real birds that died after crashing into Chicago buildings in 2023. Through workshops like this, local artist Holly Greenberg is gathering a full set of replicas that she’ll sew into a dazzling yet sobering tapestry: a 300-foot-long “carpet” that warns of the city’s dangers for birdlife.   

Located along Lake Michigan, Chicago can be a deadly trap for migrants of the Mississippi Flyway. Millions concentrate on the shore to avoid flying over water, and buildings’ bright lights can lure them into the city. As birds pass through, they risk colliding with glass windows, which they often can’t see. 

A particularly deadly night inspired Greenberg’s project. On October 5, 2023, volunteers found more than 2,000 dead birds across Chicago, including nearly 1,000 by the glassy McCormick Place convention center. Greenberg, who had recently learned about bird strikes, envisioned a massive memorial to the city’s victims. But to create something so big, she’d need help. “I just dreamed up this plan to make these pop-up art studios,” she says.

She’s since led more than 80 free workshops at venues such as schools and street fairs. Others have hosted another 100 sessions outside the Chicago area after . At each, participants use upcycled fabric and glue to transform a blank stuffed bird into one of more than 200 species found dead in the city in 2023. In line with Greenberg’s mission to limit waste in her art, all the fabric and stuffing come from donations or her own scrap collection.

Along the way, Greenberg and her partners encourage people to step up to protect birdlife. “Bird conservationists, of course, understand how dangerous Chicago is,” says Judy Pollock, former president of the Chicago Bird Alliance, which helps promote the project. “I just don’t know how much the average person understands about that.”

Greenberg teaches participants how to prevent collisions at home—where nearly half of bird strikes take place—by treating windows with stickers or paint. She also drums up support for a bigger-picture change: a proposed city council ordinance that would require bird-safe designs for some new construction and renovation projects. Growing awareness has already led to some change. At McCormick Place, owners applied retrofits to the glassy facade after that deadly night, reducing collisions by 95 percent the next fall.

So far, Greenberg has amassed more than 4,000 replicas, and she expects it’ll take several more years to complete the carpet. But she’s in no rush. “The longer it takes,” she says, “the more people I get to talk to about fixing their windows.”

This story originally ran in the Fall 2026 issue as “Crafting Awareness.” To receive our print magazine, become a member by .