New Riverdale mural highlights local birds threatened by climate change

I wanted to make this mural so people would listen to the birds.”

Nicky Enright, artist

The corner of West 236 Street and Riverdale Avenue has a colorful new addition.

Nicky Enright, an artist and art teacher at Riverdale Country School, was the primary artist on the mural that’s appeared almost overnight on the outer wall of salon Studio Delaj. 

Painting began Wednesday, June 19. Enright — along with artists Olugbala Williams and Nils Folke Anderson, and interns Emily Peña, Sarah Carmel, Sydney Dutta, Olivia Weller, Oliver Goldstone and Cyrus Anderson — completed the project Saturday, June 29. 

The mural features 15 local birds currently being threatened by climate change, including the Magnolia Warbler, Brown Thrasher, and Red-headed Woodpecker. 

The project started when Studio Delaj owner Sokol Delaj approached Enright, who had been getting his hair done by Delaj for years. After the salon moved to its new location at the corner of 236 Street and Riverdale Avenue, Delaj contacted Enright to insist he fill the blank wall of his new building with something colorful for the community. 

Enright said the idea for the mural came from an unexpected source, his sixth-grade art class.

In spring 2023, Enright’s art class started Project Nest, which enabled his students to identify local birds by appearance and their individual calls. The children’s paintings of their chosen birds were displayed around the school alongside information about them, including bird identification and a QR code for others to listen to their calls. 

When Enright faced the blank drawing board to create the design for the Studio Delaj mural, he said he thought of his students and how much he enjoyed seeing their work around campus. 

“I wanted to do something larger and more open to the public,” Enright said. “I immediately thought, I’ll paint big birds.”

When it came to picking the birds he wanted to paint, Enright said he pulled birds off from the list of local species currently threatened by climate change because he wanted to add a meaningful message to his work. 

After deciding on his design, Enright was faced with the question of how to fund the project, which is where the Kingsbridge Riverdale Van Cortlandt Development Corp. stepped in.

KRVC, the recipient of a $100,000 grant from New York City Small Business Services spread out across neighborhood projects, used it to pay Enright and his fellow artists for their work on the mural. 

Enright said he also reached out to the National Audubon Society for funding, which agreed under one condition — the mural needed to depict birds threatened by climate change.

Luckily, that was already the plan.

The difference between endangered species and threatened species is minute but important for a project like this. According to the nation’s fish and wildlife service, an endangered species is one in danger of extinction, while a threatened species is one that will most likely become endangered in the future due to dwindling populations and loss of ecosystems. 

A plaque posted on the mural provides context and details for the public. The title of the project, “The birds are talking; are we listening?” is written on the plaque right above a link to the National Audubon Society’s website with information on their conservation efforts for birds. 

According to the National Audubon Society, three billion North American birds have been lost since 1970, as populations have been impacted by habitat loss and climate change. 

The Studio Delaj mural is not the first Enright has completed in the greater Riverdale area. In 2021, he was commissioned to complete a mural for his co-op at 3636 Greystone Ave. that depicted a view of the Hudson River as if it were in an aquarium tank. 

Enright said his goal with the design of the new mural is to grab people’s attention. 

“I wanted to make this mural so people would listen to the birds,” he said.

Enright said he wants people to learn about the bird life in their neighborhood and heed Audubon’s message on the fragility of bird life and how crucial awareness can be.