It’s Draw a Bird Day!

(WHTM) — It’s Draw a Bird Day, one of the most self-explanatory event names ever. Just get out there and draw a bird. No skill required – it’s not about showcasing your artistic ability. The pleasure is in sharing your drawings with friends, family, and the internet, simply for the fun of it.

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While it’s meant for joy and merriment, Draw a Bird Day has a sad backstory. It’s about seven-year-old Dorie Cooper, who lived in England during World War 2. According to the Draw A Bird Day website, in 1943 Dorie’s mother took her to a hospital to visit a relative. Dorie’s uncle had lost his right leg to a land mine and understandably was not in the best of spirits. To cheer him up, Dorie asked him to draw a bird for her. The man did as she asked; when she saw it, Dorie laughed and told her Uncle he wasn’t a very good artist, but she would hang the picture in her room anyway.

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Dorie’s hilarious honesty actually helped lift her uncle out of his doldrums, and also cheered up other soldiers at the hospital. Whenever Dorie visited, bird drawing contests among the patients ensued, and soon the walls of the ward were covered in bird drawings.

Then, in 1946 Dorie was hit by a car and killed.

At her funeral, her coffin was filled with bird pictures, drawn by soldiers, doctors, and nurses from the hospital ward her uncle had been in. The very next year, 1947, the first Draw a Bird Day was celebrated on April 8 – Dorie’s birthday.

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With the coming of the internet, it became easy to share pictures worldwide. The Draw a Bird Day website has an archive of pictures, and you can send new submissions to their Facebook page. You can also share pictures on X using the hashtag #DABDAY.

It’s never been declared an official holiday anywhere (which may be a good thing). Draw a Bird Day is just a day to enjoy simple things in life, like birds we often overlook, sharing our drawings, and stretching our intellectual, artistic, and especially imaginative muscles. For instance-

When I first heard of Draw a Bird Day, it brought back a memory. Back when I was a kid I used to go to the Saturday Children’s Matinee (Yes, we still had them back then) at our local movie theater. One Saturday they had a special presentation – artists from the Walt Disney Studio. They talked to us about using our imaginations and thinking outside the box, which they demonstrated by drawing everyday items and then turning them into things unexpected. The one that lodged in my mind (probably because it was so simple even I could do it) was turning the number 2 into a swan. (Theirs was much better, but hey, they were Disney Artists.)

So what can you do with your imagination?

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Need some inspiration? Here are a few bird pictures to get you started. Have fun!

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