Northern Waterthrush by Vanesa Álvarez Díaz

Take heed to the chook on this mural!

Painted: 6/13/2025

Concerning the Mural: On this mural painted by Vanesa Álvarez Díaz, a Northern Waterthrush perches on a department amid a choice of colourful native crops: foxgloves, goldenrod, coneflowers, wild petunias, and extra. As a part of the Audubon Mural Project—a public-art initiative drawing consideration to birds which can be susceptible to extinction from local weather change—NYC Parks’ Artwork within the Parks program and NYC Parks GreenThumb labored with the Nationwide Audubon Society, Gitler &_____ Gallery, and native artists to design murals in neighborhood gardens throughout the town. By a collaborative course of between the companions, artist, and backyard group, every mural was designed to function climate-threatened birds in addition to native plants that birds depend on for meals and shelter. By creating vibrant city inexperienced areas, neighborhood gardeners present important assist for birds and other people. 

This mural was created with Ten Eyck Garden in Williamsburg, which held a neighborhood occasion with the artist to rejoice the brand new piece’s completion. The small pocket of inexperienced serves as a gathering area for neighborhood members to open conversations with one another, find out about biodiversity, and luxuriate in time in nature, says backyard member Rob Hult. “We develop vegatables and fruits to assist individuals, and crops and flowers to assist pollinators, birds, and biodiversity,” Hult says.

Concerning the Fowl: The Northern Waterthrush is a shy, slim warbler, typically discovered foraging for bugs close to bogs and forested streams. It’s recognized for its candy track and distinctive behavior of bobbing the rear of its physique up and down whereas it walks. Artist Vanesa Álvarez Díaz, who lives in Brooklyn close to the backyard, says she typically sees the birds within the neighborhood and has all the time cherished their colours—streaky brown over a yellowish underbelly. 

Although the waterthrush’s populations are secure at this time, it faces threats from a altering local weather. If warming continues at its present tempo, the species is ready to lose 36 % of its summer time vary, in accordance with Audubon’s Survival By Degrees report. Taking motion to restrict local weather change may also help the species survive throughout a wider unfold of habitats. In the meantime, sustaining pockets of inexperienced area like neighborhood gardens—and filling them with native crops that appeal to insect snacks—provides essential patches of habitats for birds within the metropolis.

Concerning the Artist: Vanesa Álvarez Díaz is a muralist and visible artist from the north of Spain primarily based in New York Metropolis. With over 20 years of expertise, she has been chosen in worldwide competitions and created murals with social and feminist themes in Spain, Mexico, and america. She has been an artist in residence by means of Venture Artwork USA, instructing artist for LEAP NYC’s Public Artwork Program, and works continuously as a lead artist with Thrive Collective portray murals in public faculties.

In 2021 she was chosen by the NYC Well being+Hospitals Arts in Drugs Program to color a community-based mural in Morrisania Hospital within the Bronx. Different latest works in New York Metropolis embrace “Union with the Universe” in Union Sq., commissioned by the NYC Division of Transportation; “Generations” in Woodside, Queens, created with ArtBridge; and The Flag Venture at Rockefeller Middle. Over the last three years, Álvarez Díaz was one of many Su-casa program Brooklyn Arts Council Artists in Residence. She additionally continues creating murals in Spain, from the PintaMalasaña avenue artwork undertaking in Madrid to the “Expostas” mural collection in Galicia. In addition to her public artwork, she is growing her studio apply in Sundown Park, Brooklyn.

Álvarez Díaz hopes the mural at Ten Eyck Backyard can brighten the area and spark extra curiosity concerning the birds and crops depicted. Whereas creating the mural, she says one of the best moments had been those shared with backyard members. “Within the backyard, the conversations revolve round when the fruits ripen, the butterflies, the birds,” she says. “That is actually particular and invaluable for the time and the town we inhabit.”