Blue-winged Warbler by Geobany Rodriguez
Location: El Coqui Liberation Community Garden, 924 Melrose Avenue, Bronx, NY 10451
Listen to the bird in this mural!
Painted: 4/27/2025
About the Mural: In this mural painted by Geobany Rodriguez, a Blue-winged Warbler perches on the side of a garden shed, peering over purple coneflowers. As part of the Audubon Mural Project—a public-art initiative drawing attention to birds that are vulnerable to extinction from climate change—NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program and NYC Parks GreenThumb worked with the National Audubon Society, Gitler &_____ Gallery, and local artists to design murals in community gardens across the city. Through a collaborative process between the partners, artist, and garden group, each mural was designed to feature climate-threatened birds as well as native plants that birds depend on for food and shelter. By creating vibrant urban green spaces, community gardeners provide essential support for birds and people.
This mural was created with El Coqui Liberation Community Garden in the Bronx. During the COVID-19 pandemic, neighbors started using the formerly vacant lot to grow food for mutual aid efforts and offer a much-needed outdoor space, says garden member Bruce Rivera. “We took the space back for the community,” Rivera says. Today, the garden is a cultural hub for the diverse area, featuring a historic casita built by Puerto Rican immigrants and a range of ingredients from okra to cilantro growing in its garden beds. The mural, Rivera says, adds to the feeling that the garden is an oasis amid the city environment. “It identifies us as a beacon of nature in a place where you don’t see much green,” Rivera says.
About the Bird: The Blue-winged Warbler thrives in scrubby fields and thickets in the East, poking its bill into clumps of leaves to pull out tasty insects. The species is known for its striking plumage—bright yellow with blue-gray wings and a sharp black line through the eye—and its simple buzzy song.
In recent decades, the Blue-winged Warbler has been expanding its range, pushing northward and competing with its close relative, the Golden-winged Warbler. But climate change could shrink its options: If warming continues at its current pace, the species could be pushed out of more than 80 percent of both its summer and winter ranges, according to Audubon’s Survival By Degrees report. Taking action to limit climate change can help the bird thrive across a wider stretch of habitat. Meanwhile, maintaining pockets of green space like urban gardens can help support the warblers today, making sure they have places to rest during their migratory journeys and fuel up on the bugs that teem on native plants.
About the Artist: Growing up in New York City, Geobany Rodriguez was heavily influenced by the graffiti of the ’90s. After studying psychology at Boston University, he continued to use art as a medium for self-expression and enrolled in classes at the School of Visual Arts and the Fashion Institute of Technology, where he developed traditional artistic techniques. He honed skills completing murals with spray paint at places like 5 Pointz and the Bushwick Collective. Rodriguez continues in the mural arts scenes in New York and the Boston area, completing various projects including murals for the Boston MFA’s Juneteenth celebrations and a Ringed Kingfisher in Washington Heights for the Audubon Mural Project. Birds—especially pigeons—and fish play a central role in many of his works, which often explore surreal themes like time, memory, and love.
Through this garden mural, Rodriguez says he appreciated the chance to highlight the vibrant plumage of the warbler and the unique shape of the purple coneflower, a plant frequently spotted in New York. “Though bright and colorful itself, the warbler stops to admire the coneflower as it goes about its day,” Rodriguez says. “I hope that viewers are able to also stop and appreciate the beautiful colors and subject matter for a short minute as they enjoy the park.”