What is The Bird?

The Bird is an area of the Bronx in "The Angela Esmeralda" where the nuns go to help impoverished people. Its nickname is a joking shorthand from the local police force for "bird sanctuary," because weeds and trees that have grown amid rubble in vacant lots occasionally attract owls and other birds. The main feature of the Bird is a freestanding wall upon which graffiti artists have drawn portraits as angels of children who have died.