Bird imagery has a long history within the Pennsylvania German community and has symbolic associations with rebirth and renewal. Birds appear frequently in fraktur, textiles, furniture, carvings, and other decorated forms, often in combination with other motifs such as flowers and branches. They also occur in freestanding bird trees, which bring together several strong elements of Pennsylvania German aesthetic traditions: bright colors, skillful hand carving, and natural imagery. Because of their spiritual connotations, bird trees often were given as gifts to celebrate a child’s birth or the coming of spring. Some of the best-known itinerant woodcarvers, such as “Schtockschnitzler” Simmons, are known to have carved bird trees.

This bird tree, one of a pair in the museum's collection, probably dates to the late nineteenth century, based on the star-shaped layers that form each base and the shaped architectural elements on the tree “trunk.” The birds are carved in various sizes and shapes, with the largest sitting atop the tree; fine details include incised wings that cross near the tail feathers. The birds are painted different colors, with dabbed and spotted patterning, and overlap one another as they nestle within the open elements between the branches, which jut out at right angles from the central trunk. Each bird is attached to the tree on a coiled wire spring so that they move in a natural manner when the tree is shaken.

Stacy C. Hollander, "Bird Tree," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 346.