Northern Waterthrush by Vanesa Álvarez Díaz

Listen to the bird in this mural!

Painted: 6/13/2025

About the Mural: In this mural painted by Vanesa Álvarez Díaz, a Northern Waterthrush perches on a branch amid a selection of colorful native plants: foxgloves, goldenrod, coneflowers, wild petunias, and more. 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 Ten Eyck Garden in Williamsburg, which held a community event with the artist to celebrate the new piece’s completion. The small pocket of green serves as a gathering space for community members to open conversations with each other, learn about biodiversity, and enjoy time in nature, says garden member Rob Hult. “We grow fruits and vegetables to support people, and plants and flowers to support pollinators, birds, and biodiversity,” Hult says.

About the Bird: The Northern Waterthrush is a shy, slim warbler, often found foraging for insects near bogs and forested streams. It’s known for its sweet song and distinctive habit of bobbing the rear of its body up and down while it walks. Artist Vanesa Álvarez Díaz, who lives in Brooklyn near the garden, says she often sees the birds in the neighborhood and has always loved their colors—streaky brown over a yellowish underbelly. 

Though the waterthrush’s populations are stable today, it faces threats from a changing climate. If warming continues at its current pace, the species is set to lose 36 percent of its summer range, according to Audubon’s Survival By Degrees report. Taking action to limit climate change can help the species survive across a wider spread of habitats. Meanwhile, maintaining pockets of green space like community gardens—and filling them with native plants that attract insect snacks—offers crucial patches of habitats for birds in the city.

About the Artist: Vanesa Álvarez Díaz is a muralist and visual artist from the north of Spain based in New York City. With over 20 years of experience, she has been selected in international competitions and created murals with social and feminist themes in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. She has been an artist in residence through Project Art USA, teaching artist for LEAP NYC’s Public Art Program, and works frequently as a lead artist with Thrive Collective painting murals in public schools.

In 2021 she was selected by the NYC Health+Hospitals Arts in Medicine Program to paint a community-based mural in Morrisania Hospital in the Bronx. Other recent works in New York City include “Union with the Universe” in Union Square, commissioned by the NYC Department of Transportation; “Generations” in Woodside, Queens, created with ArtBridge; and The Flag Project at Rockefeller Center. During the last three years, Álvarez Díaz was one of the Su-casa program Brooklyn Arts Council Artists in Residence. She also continues creating murals in Spain, from the PintaMalasaña street art project in Madrid to the “Expostas” mural series in Galicia. Besides her public art, she is developing her studio practice in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Álvarez Díaz hopes the mural at Ten Eyck Garden can brighten the space and spark more curiosity about the birds and plants depicted. While creating the mural, she says the best moments were the ones shared with garden members. “In the garden, the conversations revolve around when the fruits ripen, the butterflies, the birds,” she says. “That's truly special and valuable for the time and the city we inhabit.”