_{^{A Gray Catbird forages in Greenwich Village's Jefferson Market Garden. Photo: Linda Camardo}}

Andrew Maas, Director of Marketing and Communications | August 28, 2025

The historic Jefferson Market, a beloved public library in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, is known for its legacy of meticulous documentation. Now, in the adjacent Jefferson Market Garden, NYC Bird Alliance Urban Biodiversity Specialist Tod Winston is methodically cataloging a different kind of valuable record: the diverse birds inhabiting this vibrant natural nook.

Waking before dawn, Tod surveys the one-acre garden, noting species like American Robins and Gray Catbirds feeding fledglings, along with calls from Blue Jays and Northern Mockingbirds. He will return throughout the fall, building a comprehensive list as part of NYC Bird Alliance’s expanding green infrastructure biodiversity monitoring efforts.

"Every small patch contributes to a larger vision for our urban birds," says Director of Conservation and Science Dustin Partridge, PhD. "This project, our first deep dive into monitoring a community garden, is showing us how green spaces of all sizes can dramatically enhance urban bird habitat.”

But this scientific work tells only half the story. Jefferson Market Garden thrives with community life: volunteers tending flower beds, neighbors gathering for events, children exploring the garden’s pathways. Its accessibility inspired an innovative approach: inviting the public to witness and participate in the bird research—a community garden where conservation science unfolds in full view.

The seeds for this unique partnership were planted in 2021, when Susan Sipos, horticulturist/landscape designer for the Jefferson Market Garden, approached NYC Bird Alliance. Building on the garden's existing online bird guide, Susan sought a more formal, scientific collaboration that inherently brought the public into the process.

“We are a garden that creates a welcoming habitat for humans and birds,” says Susan. “Giving our visitors an opportunity to learn about what our quiet, passive green space provides to birds will enhance their visit.”

In this bustling garden, NYC Bird Alliance will now offer a behind-the-scenes look at our science work in action. "We’re bringing binoculars, explaining data sheets, and displaying daily species sightings on a white board to make this exciting science more tangible for garden visitors and teach about the value of urban green space," Senior Manager of Green Infrastructure Myles Davis explains.

For NYC Bird Alliance, embedding conservation and science work across all of its programs—from bird outings to lectures—is a core strategic imperative, championed in its upcoming Strategic Plan to be published this fall. This commitment is crucial for maximizing the organization’s impact and reach, ensuring its scientific findings and conservation goals translate into action by a wider audience. 

This shared passion for integrating science and community, further ignited by positive press coverage of NYC Bird Alliance’s biodiversity monitoring at the Broadway Malls this spring, empowered the Garden to secure vital funding for the partnership through a generous donation from Linda and Joe Camardo, passionate plant and bird enthusiasts who support the Garden. 

The first public “ecology session” is slated for September, with a larger public program planned for next spring. (All events at Jefferson Market Garden will be posted on NYC Bird Alliance’s events calendar.) By aligning engagement and public programming with its scientific research, NYC Bird Alliance hopes to create a more informed and active community stewarding the protection of green spaces.

“In the face of budget cuts for City Parks, publicly accessible private spaces are more important than ever for providing green space that benefits birds and connects all New Yorkers with the natural environment,” says Director of Advocacy and Engagement Saman Mahmood. 

Early surveys at the garden vividly underscore this imperative, already yielding fascinating insights, including a large number of resident breeding birds—a testament to how wildlife persists and can even thrive in urban settings.
 

“According to any field guide, those birds shouldn't be nesting in such a small space,” says Dustin. “But they are. They're in the garden foraging and nesting. The more we can inform New Yorkers about these unexpected connections between habitat and birds, the more likely they’re to become conservation advocates for urban green spaces.”