Listen to the bird in this mural!
Painted: 9/15/2025
About the Mural: In this mural by artist Maggie Rodriguez, a White-throated Sparrow flies in to perch on a vine of native Virginia rose. 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. Explore more murals from the collaboration here.
This mural was created with Phoenix Gate Community Garden, a green space in Jamaica, Queens. Garden director Carlos Bolanos says when he first moved to the neighborhood, the lot was in disrepair, but over the past few years, neighbors have come together to revitalize the space. Today, it’s a flourishing community hub that offers people a space to reconnect with nature and learn skills such as innovative gardening techniques and woodworking. It also has become a local birding hotspot, as it offers food and shelter to local and migratory species. “This is a safe haven for a bunch of birds that we haven’t seen in this area for a long time,” Bolanos says.
About the Bird: The White-throated Sparrow—with its distinctive black, white, and yellow head markings and sweet, whistled song—offers a familiar sight in eastern woods and thickets. The birds tend to forage together in large flocks, hopping along the ground in search of seeds and insects—a communal approach that resonates with the garden space, Bolanos points out. “They excel in communities of their own, and that fits really well with what we’re doing,” he says.
Today, White-throated Sparrows remain common and widespread, though the birds seem to have declined in recent decades. Climate change poses further threats: If warming continues at its current pace, the species is projected to lose 88 percent of its current summer range, according to Audubon’s Survival By Degrees report. Taking action to limit warming can help ensure these sparrows can thrive on a wider range of habitats into the future. Meanwhile, preserving pockets of green space like community gardens—and populating them with native plants—offers crucial spaces for birds to rest and refuel.
About the Artist: Maggie Rodriguez is a New York City-based artist and counselor. Though she was born in the city, Rodriguez was raised in Colombia, where her mother is from and where she gained an appreciation for connecting with nature. Her work as a counselor has also impressed upon her the importance of green spaces for mental health: “People should be out more and getting their hands dirty,” Rodriguez says.
For her garden shed mural—the first mural she’s done, after mainly working in smaller-scale art and design—Rodriguez chose the White-throated Sparrow to symbolize resilience and the Virginia rose to represent pioneers. “To me, it symbolizes all the families arriving here looking for a better future,” she says. The artist hopes her mural will help welcome more people into the garden space and remind them to appreciate the nature around them. Rodriguez herself has a soft spot for city birds like sparrows and pigeons that tend to get taken for granted. “People just get used to them,” she says. “They don’t realize that you’re sharing space with this other creature that makes things beautiful.”
