Take heed to the fowl on this mural!
Painted: 10/21/2025
Concerning the Mural: On this mural by artist Majo San, an American Woodcock friends out from a panorama of native New England aster and grey dogwood. As a part of the Audubon Mural Project—a public-art initiative drawing consideration to birds which might be weak 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 group gardens throughout town. By way of 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, group gardeners present important assist for birds and other people. Discover extra murals from the collaboration here.
This mural was created with Discovery Community Garden 1, half of a pair of interlinked inexperienced areas in Jamaica, Queens. Together with rising crops, the gardens host group occasions and youth programming to attach with the neighborhood.
Concerning the Hen: The American Woodcock is a beloved shorebird with a peculiar form: a plump physique, brief legs, eyes set far again within the head, and an extended invoice that it makes use of to probe the bottom for bugs. These birds spend a lot of their time alongside the forest ground, the place their brown plumage blends in seamlessly. Hear for his or her signature peent calls, or watch on spring and summer season nights for males’ swooping sky dance shows.
Woodcocks are nonetheless pretty frequent, although they might be declining within the japanese United States. Local weather change, nonetheless, poses additional threats: If warming continues at its present tempo, the species is projected to lose greater than half its summer season vary, in response to Audubon’s Survival By Degrees report. Taking motion to restrict local weather change may also help guarantee these birds are in a position to thrive throughout a wider vary of habitats sooner or later. In the meantime, sustaining pockets of inexperienced area like group gardens—and populating them with native vegetation—can provide birds important locations to relaxation and refuel.
Concerning the Artist: Majo San is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Mexico Metropolis and primarily based in New York since 2018. She works on a variety of tasks together with murals, work, installations, and tattoos, which regularly spotlight texture and natural parts. Her items embody themes of group, nature, the exploration of our minds, and the way we relate with our world and actuality, in addition to contemplations of her religious follow rooted in Tibetan Buddhism. “I invite to not solely see nature, however to really feel it, and in that manner, go deeper and strengthen our connection,” she says.
For her woodcock mural, she says she was drawn to the species’ stunning plumage patterns and unusually lengthy beak. The artist painted murals on each of the linked Discovery Neighborhood Gardens, and loved spending time within the pure area—and consuming produce shared together with her by backyard members. “It was a pleasure to fulfill the gardeners and see how they make investments their time to nurture and share what they’ve,” she says.
