An Interview with Gail Karlsson, Nature Writer and Photographer | October 8, 2026
In August, NYC Bird Alliance and nearly 100 Avian Advocates flocked to City Hall to support new Light Out legislation. As we gathered before the rally in City Hall Park, some brightly colored birds caught our eye: an inquisitive White-throated Sparrow, an Eastern Towhee with a sassy side-eye, and a Red-tailed Hawk posed perfectly in profile.
All these birds and more were part of a project: the City Hall Park Bird Banners. Featuring photographs by nature writer and photographer Gail Karlsson, the bird banners showcase the beauty, wonder, and diversity of New York City’s birds in a place where people might least expect to find them.
NYC Bird Alliance sat down with Karlsson to learn more about the project.
What was the impetus behind the Bird Banners?
Gail Karlsson: It makes me happy to see birds in the City, and I like being able to share that enthusiasm with my friends and neighbors. Putting up my photos of local birds in public spaces encourages others to look for themselves – and maybe share that joy. And hopefully they’ll also become invested in protecting the City’s birds.
What was the process to get this project off the ground?
I submitted a proposal to the NYC Parks’ “Art in the Parks” program, in collaboration with the Friends of City Hall Park group and the City Hall Park Conservancy. I live right across the street from City Hall Park, though I hadn’t really thought about birding there before. But a friend of mine in the neighborhood told me she once saw a rare Yellow-breasted Chat in City Hall Park, and encouraged me to take a look.
People from this neighborhood had seen my bird banners in Battery Park and thought it would be great to have some here too. So now there are ten posts along the main path, each featuring two of my bird photos.
So people can see this project in Battery Park as well?
Yes, in 2021 I put together a photo book about birds I had seen downtown at The Battery. In fact, many of the birds had shown up during outings led by Gabriel Willow and coordinated by NYC Bird Alliance.
In connection with that book project, The Battery Conservancy liked the idea of hanging banners around the park featuring some of the book’s photos. Those banners turned out to be very popular, and have been up on lampposts at The Battery since May 2022. During that time we have organized a number of bird banner walks and public events, including a collaboration with NYC Bird Alliance. One of the banners even showed up in a social media post about Succession, which was filmed in Battery Park.
And now the project has expanded to your own neighborhood! Did City Hall Park turn out to be a birding hotspot?
I wouldn’t say a “hotspot.” But like many of the small parks in the City, there are a variety of wild birds that regularly use it for habitat and others that come by seasonally.
Some of the birds I put on the banners are ones that are native to this area: robins, blue jays, crows, catbirds, red-tailed hawks, kestrels, towhees, mourning doves, mockingbirds, and the white-throated sparrows that spend the winter in the City.
Then there were some migratory forest birds that showed up and surprised me, like a Hermit Thrush, Northern Flicker, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I also included a few warblers on the banners, ones that had seemed easiest to spot – Northern Parula, Black-and-white Warbler, and Ovenbird. There were some other migratory warblers as well, but I didn’t want to highlight birds that people probably wouldn’t see without some birding experience and good binoculars.
This project is a wonderful way to introduce New Yorkers to the world of birding. Have you been happy with how it’s been received in City Hall Park?
I have been delighted to see small groups of people, both locals and tourists, stopping to look at each set of banners along the way and taking pictures.
The banners are located along a busy path for pedestrians and bicyclists crossing the park. But there are benches along the edges of the path that invite people to stop and sit for a while. So this area also serves as a meeting and resting spot for people living in the neighborhood. Some of those people see the banners every day and are beginning to notice the real birds coming and going during different seasons.
Some of the banners are right outside the Mayor’s office too, so we hope they are inspiring him, as well as City Council members and other city officials, to notice and appreciate the birds.
While I was hanging the banners, one of the NYPD guards at City Hall came to confirm that I had a permit, then started telling me about the birds he sees while on duty, especially the American Crows and Red-tailed Hawks that perch on the buildings. That was fun.
My main goal is to call attention to the fact that the park supports a whole community of birds and wildlife, and that we live surrounded by nature even within this busy urban center. I believe that promoting awareness about the birds and trees around us can lead to more respect for them, more concern for their welfare, and a better understanding of how our lives are linked in fundamental ways.
The City Hall Park bird banners were installed in April 2026 and will stay up until April 2027.
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