The sculpted birds above are now staring intently in various directions from just south of the entrance ramp for the Rice Village’s rooftop parking lot between University Blvd. and Amherst St. The new bird-studded cage hangs around the upper half of the Kelvin St. access staircase for the lot, previously shielded from prying eyes by a since-removed blinder of brick (as pictured second above at the start of the work last year, before much of the paint-up or knock-out action had taken place on the eastern side of the structure). The birds are the work of Californian metalworker and periodic perched bird sculptor Nathan Mabry. Changes to the building roughly align with the older renderings of the remodel, though the space was previously depicted with an extra new window (along with some ghostly stand-in art): 

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Meanwhile around the corner on Rice Blvd., the next phalanx of new parking meters are now in place:

• Owl-Themed Modern Sculpture Lands in Rice Village [Houston Chronicle]
• Previously on Swamplot: Parking Meters Sprout in Rice Village for February Switchup; Your Chance To Read Into the New Rice Village Mural on Morningside; Before-ish and After Views of the Rice Village Design Overhaul Now Underway on University Blvd.; Shake Shack Will Take Over La Madeleine’s Rice Village Space; Bricks Turn White in the Rice Village as Arcade Makeover Unfolds; How Rice University Might Mix Up Its Rice Village Properties

Images: Rice Village District (top); Swamplot inbox (second); Trademark (rendering); Michael Harrison (bottom)