At the patron's request, the artist's wife wrote these notes for display with the piece:
"Birds of Florida decorate the tiles of this composite painting in alphabet form by the artist Joseph Reed, whose work has been exhibited in New York, Washington, London, New Delhi, St. Petersburg, and Hartford, CT.

"Each bird is identified in the lower-right-hand corner of the tile, with the initial representing the first letter of its name. The birds were chosen by Dr. and Mrs. Richard Norenberg, whose choices determined the composition of the painting. As the artist and the doctor have been friends since grammar school, their extensive bird-watching excursions as Boy Scouts prompted this alphabet." (Photo courtesy of Dr. William Stickley)