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Draw a Picture of a Bird Day

From chickens to penguins to sparrows, from pens to pencils to watercolors, you have plenty of artistic options on Draw a Picture of a Bird Day.

Animals Art & Crafts Birds Hobbies & Activities42

Marketing angleinferred

Inspire creative engagement and drive sales of art supplies, drawing books, and online tutorials by positioning Draw a Picture of a Bird Day as a feel-good creative challenge for families and hobbyists.

Relevance 42medium intent

Share user-generated bird drawings on social media with a branded hashtag to build community engagement
Promote art supply bundles, colored pencils, and drawing books with step-by-step tutorials tied to the observance
Host a virtual or in-store bird drawing contest with prizes to drive foot traffic and social sharing
Create beginner-friendly YouTube tutorial content featuring different bird species and artistic techniques

History

Draw a Picture of a Bird Day actually has a history that dates back more than seven decades and the day has a beautiful origin story. In 1943, during World War II, a seven-year-old girl named Dorie Cooper visited her uncle, who was a wounded soldier in a hospital in England.

While she was there, she asked him to draw a bird as she thought it might help to cheer him up and lighten his mood.

Although Dorie laughed at the picture of the bird her uncle had drawn and declared him not such a great artist, it did accomplish the task of cheering him up.

And because he shared the story with his fellow wounded soldiers, many of them also began holding contests for drawing pictures of birds. They would have them hung about the hospital ward so that all the walls were covered within a few months. It not only cheered up Dorie’s uncle, but many other soldiers as well!

Tragically, Dorie was killed in an automobile accident just three years later. And because the story of Dorie’s inspiration had been told, there were many drawings and pictures of birds at her funeral, brought by soldiers, nurses, doctors and others.

Draw a Picture of a Bird Day was first celebrated on Dorie’s birthday, April 8th, in 1947, the year following her death.

Since then, the day has been celebrated each year to not only commemorate the impact that Dorie made on the lives of wounded soldiers, but also to encourage others to live out her example of encouragement to those around her.

By 2011, the annual celebration of Draw a Picture of a Bird Day had made its way to social media and had even gained its own website and hashtag.

How to celebrate

Draw a Picture of a Bird

Will you draw a chicken or a chaffinch? Perhaps a peacock, penguin or puffin? For those who would prefer to draw a goose, will it be of the Canadian, Red-breasted, Woods-walking or Spur-winged variety? And you’d be amazed by how many types of hawk there are prowling the skies! Anyone looking for reference images of birds can find a pretty extensive list of birds by common name on Wikipedia.

Share the Day with Friends and Family

For those who would rather just have a bit of fun and get arty, why not share this occasion of Draw a Picture of a Bird Day with friends, family and coworkers? Perhaps it would be fun to have a competition to see who can draw the best or funniest bird. Make a point to cover the fridge in sketches. Find a chalkboard and create a beautiful aerial scene of spiraling swifts and swallows. Or simply pop a little cartoon birdy on your hand and introduce it to strangers on the bus.

Try Using Some Bird Drawing Books

Folks who are interested in learning more about how to draw birds in honor of Draw a Picture of a Bird Day might want to check out some books from the local bookstore or library. Of course, YouTube tutorials are also a nice option for step by step video instructions. For books, try some titles such as these: Drawing Birds by John Busby (2004)Drawing Birds with Colored Pencils by Kaaren Poole (2008)The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds by John Muir Laws (2012)Drawing Cute Birds in Colored Pencil by Ai Akikusa (2016)

FAQ

What are some simple techniques beginners can use to draw a bird that still looks believable?

Beginners often get better results by starting with a quick “gesture” line to show the bird’s posture, then building the body from basic shapes like an oval for the torso and a circle for the head before adding details. Educators such as John Muir Laws suggest checking proportions early, placing the eye and beak in relation to each other, and only then refining angles of the head, tail, and wings and lightly indicating feather groups and shading. This step‑by‑step approach prevents stiff, “snowman” shapes and makes even simple birds look more lifelike.

Why have birds been such a popular subject in art across cultures and history?

Historians note that birds are common in art because they are highly visible in daily life and carry powerful symbolic meanings such as freedom, transformation, spirituality, and connection between worlds. From ancient Egyptian depictions of the falcon god Horus to Andean textiles, European religious paintings, and modern works, birds often stand for the soul, seasonal change, status, or migration, which makes them especially appealing to artists looking for simple images with rich layers of meaning.

Can drawing birds help people pay more attention to nature and real bird behavior?

Many science and nature educators argue that sketching birds encourages closer observation of shape, posture, and behavior, which in turn can improve field identification and appreciation for biodiversity. Guides on bird illustration explain that to draw a bird convincingly, people must notice features such as bill shape, wing length, and how a species perches or moves, so the act of drawing naturally trains the eye to notice details that casual birdwatchers often overlook.

Why do art teachers often recommend starting a bird drawing with loose lines instead of details like feathers?

Art instructors commonly advise starting with loose lines because early, light marks are easy to adjust and help capture the overall pose before committing to specifics. Tutorials on drawing birds emphasize that getting the tilt of the head, the angle of the back, and the size relationship between head, body, and tail matters more than individual feathers; once those big shapes feel right, adding feather texture and fine markings becomes much simpler and more accurate.

How did bird illustration become important in science as well as in art?

Bird illustration became central to science in the Enlightenment and later when naturalists depended on artists to document species discovered on expeditions. Institutions such as the Linda Hall Library explain that ornithological works by artists like Mark Catesby, George Edwards, and John James Audubon provided detailed, life‑sized images that recorded color, posture, and habitat long before color photography, making art a primary tool for studying and classifying birds.

Why are birds especially popular subjects in children’s drawings and early art education?

While research on specific subjects varies, educators often choose birds for children’s art because they combine simple, easily recognizable shapes with a lot of room for imagination and color. Articles on birds in art note that children can quickly grasp basic silhouettes like a round body and triangle beak, then experiment with patterns, bright plumage, or symbolic ideas like flying and freedom, so birds work well for building confidence while still inviting creativity.

What is a practical way for someone who “can’t draw” to get started with a bird sketch from a photo?

Beginner bird‑drawing guides suggest choosing a clear side‑on photo, lightly marking the top and bottom of the bird to set its overall height, then blocking in an oval body and head before checking that the beak, eye, and legs line up with the reference. Some artists recommend using a simple grid or measuring with a pencil at arm’s length to compare angles and lengths, which helps people who feel unskilled create a recognizable bird without relying on tracing.