Vagrants & Uncommon Visitors

Literary Nonfiction. Museum Studies. VAGRANTS AND UNCOMMON VISITORS traces the origins, impact, and significance of a bird collection turned museum on the shores of Iceland's Lake Mývatn. The lake supports a eutrophic ecology that, among other things, gives life to an all-but-complete collection of Icelandic birds. The birds, or maybe their collection, give purpose to Sigurgeir, a native son who has been sighting birds and gathering eggs on the lakeside family farm since childhood. When Sigurgeir is killed in an accident on the lake, his family begins a decade-long struggle to make a museum. In this gorgeously illustrated, long-form lyric essay, VAGRANTS AND UNCOMMON VISITORS concerns itself with family, gender, and memorials as it examines the grief, natural history, and accomplishment of Sigurgeir's Bird Museum.