Bangert: The mystery of the wooden birds hanging in downtown Lafayette trees

LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Here’s a mystery for you: Who is leaving tiny, carved birds perched on storefront window sills and hanging from trees along Main Street in downtown Lafayette?

For the past year, and perhaps more, downtown shop owners and residents have been posting photos of the birds – carved from basswood or other soft woods and generally measuring about three inches – as they find them tucked into branches just above eye level, hidden on sculptures or nested in planters.

“Downtown, we’re all pretty tight-knit, if you know what I mean,” said Ron Halsema, an owner of Halsema Custom Crafts, a shop at 660 Main St. with a portfolio that includes custom woodwork.

“I’ve had people ask me if I’m doing it,” Halsema said, dating the first finds he saw or heard about to last summer. “But nobody seems to know. Or no one has seen who’s doing it. You’d think someone would know. But they’re just these surprises that pop up.”

Randa Halsema, co-owner of Halsema Custom Crafts, said she goes outside the shop on a regular basis, checking trees on the off-chance a bird is there to pluck.

“It’s like someone’s doing it just for the joy of it,” Randa Halsema said. “Or to bring joy.”

Up and down Main Street, there are stories without many clues.

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Susie Gibbs, owner of Susie Gibbs Framing and Art Gallery, 514 Main St., said she saw the first one on the window sill outside her shop about six months ago.

“The first one was teeny, teeny,” Gibbs said.

She said the bird sat on the store’s sill for a few days before disappearing. Another landed in the same spot at some point in the months that followed.

“I think it’s sweet,” Gibbs said.

Bobbi Ropes, at Black Wax Records, 666 1/3 Main St., took a picture of one just outside the shop over the winter and posted it to Facebook. Someone – “I have no idea who,” she said – took it or moved it a day or so later, Ropes said.

Dustin Washington lives on Main Street and said he started seeing them early last summer, often during evening walks.

“We began seeing them in trees and on window ledges,” Washington said. “When I tried to find information on them, all I saw were articles about scooters, and I wondered if it was someone’s way of bringing a different kind of Bird to downtown.”

Since then, Washington said, he’s found and picked up eight to 10. He said he started taking pictures of them instead of taking them home. He figures he’s seen 30 or 40 since last summer. In recent weeks, he’s posted his finds on social media, looking for an explanation of who and why. No one’s come forward.

On Wednesday afternoon, two birds were hanging by thin wires – like Christmas ornaments – from trees in the 500 block of Main Street. Another was in a tree at Fifth and Main street, near the Family Farm sculpture. One more, this time with a tiny birdhouse attached, was in a tree near the Tippecanoe County Courthouse fountain, at Fourth and Main streets. Earlier in the week, one was sitting in one of the top gear-like metal openings of the sculpture, “Tribute to David Ross,” across from the courthouse in the 300 block of Main Street.

Joanne Titolo is one of 18 artists who own and exhibit their work at Artists’ Own, a gallery and store at 518 Main St. Titolo said no one at Artists’ Own is behind it.

“But I love, love it,” Titolo said. “It’s so cool – some urban legend fun. I want to know. But I love just that it’s happening and no one really knows.”

Israel Quintero, the city’s security officer in downtown, said he’s seen a couple putting the birds in trees and around various spots. Quintero said they don’t draw much attention when they’re downtown.

“It doesn’t seem like a big secret,” Quintero said. “But they seem fairly quiet about it.”

Randa Halsema said the mystery might be better than knowing, if it brings people downtown to wander Main Street.

In meantime?

“I need to go outside,” she said, “and look up in the trees.”

Reach Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.