The National Audubon Society is partnering with the Durst Organization to paint a mural of a climate-endangered duck at 10 Halletts Point, the developer’s new waterfront building in Astoria.
The mural — a collaboration with Gitler & Gallery — will feature American Black Ducks, a species native to New York that is being threatened by the effects of climate change. The project is part of the Audubon Mural Project, an undertaking inspired by Audubon scientists’ 2014 Birds and Climate Change Report, which concluded that over half of American bird species are under threat.
The mural’s bright, sunset-colored blues and oranges will stretch out along a 175-foot wall. A male and a female duck will float along the gradient, just as the species is often spotted doing in the East River.
Australian artist Peter Daverington has implemented his graffiti-style art to other Audubon murals across the city. So far, the conservation group’s mural campaign has painted 110 of the species of the total number of species named in the report.
In finishing the mural over the next week, Daverington will spray-paint the duck portraits up on the wall. The mural is slated to be finished by the end of the week. The ideal vantage point to view the birds will be the Upper East Side.
