September is a time of change. Migratory birds gather in flocks and head south, leaving behind an empty sky and fading bird calls. Yet, there are birds that do not fear the changing seasons: they do not fly away, they do not fall silent with cold weather approaching, and they are always ready to sing their song once more. True, they do not need wings for this – winding up a spring is all it takes.

The museum "Collection" exposition features a number of remarkable mechanical birds created by the German firm of  Karl Griesbaum. Among them are singing birds in cages and small musical boxes. These items bring together decorative art, music, and mechanics. But what we see here is not just an ornament and not merely a musical instrument, but a true performance in miniature that comes to life at the single flick of a lever.

How does it work? Inside the small box hides a complex, spring-driven clockwork mechanism. Once activated, the lid opens, and a vibrant bird emerges from within. It begins to turn from side to side, flap its wings, and open and close its beak, emitting mechanical chirp. After a few seconds, the performance ends: the bird disappears back inside, and the lid smoothly lowers.

The illusion of a living creature is created by the precise operation of several components. The bird’s movements are controlled by a cam mechanism – a system of profiled parts that sequentially activate the individual elements of the automaton. The sound is produced by a small whistle pipe: the air pumped during the mechanism's operation forces the whistle to sound, creating a distinct mechanical "voice" for the bird.

The history of such automata is significantly older than Griesbaum's own creations. The tradition of mechanical birds dates back to  the 18^thcentury Switzerland and continued well into the 19^th century. Masters sought to replicate not only the bird’s appearance but also its voice, movements, and behaviour. To achieve this, they perfected systems of spring drives, bellows, cams, and whistle mechanisms. This gave rise to a special genre of mechanical automata that created the illusion of a living creature.

Karl Griesbaum was closely tied to the tradition of manufacturing mechanical songbirds in Triberg, Germany, one of the key centers of clockmaking and mechanical production in the Schwarzwald. His enterprise produced birdcages, musical boxes, whistles, and other mechanical objects. The workshop's creations seamlessly combined technical precision, decorative artistry, and showmanship. The museum Collection Repository features pieces crafted by the Griesbaum firm.

Nowadays, these little automata are particularly fascinating to look at as a distinct form of musical art. Each bird has its own body, decoration, and style of movement, but the principle remains surprisingly simple: the energy of a wound spring turns into movement, movement into sound, and the combination of mechanics and miniature sculpture into a brief performance. The main thing here is not the device itself, but the illusion it creates. And perhaps, in September, the viewer needs this illusion more than ever: on the threshold of autumn, the museum singing birds seem capable of holding onto the departing summer.

Cover: Singing bird cage. Griesbaum, Karl. Germany. First half of the 19th century