Washington Heights Bird Murals Get WaPo Write-Up

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — A tale about the neighborhood's bird murals reached readers across the nation Thursday with a write-up from the Washington Post.

The Post's coverage of the Audubon Mural Project — a Hamilton and Washington Heights art public art initiative that celebrates birds and raises climate change awareness — tells the tale of distinctly urban bird-watching tour.

"Two warblers peeped over the scaffolding," James F. Lee writes. "The warblers weren't in trees, though. They were in murals."

Lee then describes the tour he and his wife take with local guide Leigh Hallingby, who offers several tours of uptown Manhattan and one specifically on the Washington Heights murals.

The project‚ sponsored by the National Audubon Society and Hamilton Heights' Gitler &_____ Gallery, began in the uptown neighborhoods where once lived bird artist John James Audubon.

Commissioned artists paint birds featured in Audubon’s “Survival By Degrees” analysis, which shows how climate change threatens 389 species of birds.

There are currently 10o murals depicting 138 species, according to the project website.

Among those viewed by Lee and the guests who joined Hallingby's is the mural by artist Ouizi on West 149th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, which depicts an evening grosbeck sitting atop a cherry tree.

"I love cherry trees," one tour attendee told the Washington Post reporter. "And liked that it was so huge."

Read the complete article here.