New York\u2019s community gardens have always been tiny pockets of magic\u2014places where tomatoes, neighbors and the occasional rogue pigeon can peacefully coexist.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now they\u2019re bird sanctuaries of a more artistic kind, thanks to 21 freshly painted murals unveiled this week across gardens in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. The project, a collaboration between the National Audubon Society, NYC Parks<\/a>, GreenThumb and Gitler &_____ Gallery<\/a>, splashes 24 climate-threatened bird species (plus more than 30 native plants) across walls, sheds and fences citywide.<\/p>\n The new works join a long-running effort: since 2014, the Audubon Mural Project<\/a> has produced 142 murals depicting 210 species, turning the city into an open-air field guide with much better curb appeal. These latest additions spotlight how small green spaces, places residents often use for potlucks and tomato staking, are also vital habitat for migratory and year-round birds.<\/p>\n Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa calls the gardens \u201cshared spaces to grow, learn and build community\u201d and the murals double down on that mission. Painted by New York-based artists, each piece highlights a bird facing climate threats alongside the native plants that feed or shelter it. So, yes, that may be a Yellow Warbler you see in Melrose, but it\u2019s also a subtle nudge to plant more goldenrod.<\/p>\n The Bronx leads the flock with seven murals, including Will DeNatale\u2019s Hermit Thrush at Garden of Eden and Talisa Almonte\u2019s Tennessee Warbler at Dolorinda Lisante Community Garden. Brooklyn\u2019s five new works include Farid Hadechini\u2019s Rose-breasted Grosbeak and American Tree Sparrow in Bed-Stuy and Peach Tao\u2019s Swamp Sparrow in East New York. Manhattan\u2019s contributions stretch from a clever Gray Catbird in the East Village<\/a> to a particularly charismatic Baltimore Oriole in Harlem. And Queens rounds things out with five murals concentrated in Jamaica, like Maggie Rodriguez\u2019s White-throated Sparrow and Jessie Salinas\u2019s Sharp-shinned Hawk.<\/p>\n Audubon\u2019s Jennifer Bogo notes that two-thirds of North American bird species are threatened by climate change\u2014and many of them pass through or live in New York. These murals serve as reminders that the birds\u2019 survival depends not only on large parks and forests, but also on pocket gardens tended by volunteers who understand their neighborhoods best.<\/p>\n Want to see them all? Check individual garden hours via NYC Parks\u2019 GreenThumb page<\/a>\u00a0and explore the full mural list on the Audubon Mural Project site. Bonus homework: plug your zip code into Audubon\u2019s Native Plant Database<\/a> and find out which flowers and shrubs will make your local sparrows eternally grateful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s community gardens have always been tiny pockets of magic\u2014places where tomatoes, neighbors and the occasional rogue…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":363203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1037,29645,405,403,29646,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-363202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-art","10":"tag-categories-art","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-news-art","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115510896527918702","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}