Brown-capped Rosy-Finch by Yazmeen Collazo

Location: Sexy Nails Inc., 3803 Broadway, New York, NY 10032

Painted: September 28, 2016

About the Bird: Brown-capped Rosy-Finches currently have a tiny range, breeding only on alpine tundra from southern Wyoming to southern Colorado and wintering in the surrounding foothills, including in northernmost New Mexico. A warming climate will force its breeding habitat into higher elevations. By 2080, Audubon's climate model predicts that only 3 percent of the finches' current winter range will have a similar climate to today.

About the Artist: A Bronx-born mixed media artist, Yazmeen Collazo began creating art with her father at an early age, and over the years accumulated hundreds of drawings and paintings inspired by nature. She has painted life all over the city, including at the New York Botanical Garden. Focused on both process and product, her recent body of work combines spray paint, acrylic, collage, and other media to weave ethereal, yet textured tales exploring various aspects of the female experience. It was a woman who inspired her choice of bird species for this mural: “My mother loves finches and we had a pair of them when I was younger,” she says. “My mural is dedicated to her.”

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