Tag Archives: Birds

From swans to spoonbills, these brick-built birds are a soaring achievement

Dutch AFOL William Van Beek didn’t set out with a focus on building birds – his MOCs had been grounded more in the architecture of the Netherlands. But as buildings became dioramas, birds became as essential as minifigs to bring the Dutch countryside to life.

This was especially true as William began a project to recreate the historic Efteling Park in LEGO, as the storybook theme park famously features a daily goose parade! Soon William had an army of geese with an adorable and expressive design made from roughly 15 parts, most prominently croissant wings. Friends and AFOLs were taking notice!

But as prominent as geese are in Dutch landscapes, they’re far from the only bird. Swans and pheasants joined the flock! Wings from the D&D Aarakocra Ranger work perfectly for soaring swans, and the pheasant modifies the goose build with a stubbier heads and buttery brown croissant wings.

AFOLs and birdwatchers, come this way for more fantastic fowl

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DeRa struts like a peacock showing off its tail feathers

Japanese LEGO builder DeRa has been absolutely killing it lately. We’ve barely just stopped waxing lyrical about that tiger, and the brick-built menagerie is already expanding. And in some style! The proud peacock couldn’t be more different to an apex predator like the tiger, but this one is still built to the same sky-high standard.

Iteration is the name of the game here: what better way to create intricate feathered patterns than with multiples of interesting parts? Crocodile jaws on the neck; a superb combination of Technic gears and ‘boat’ tiles for the tail feathers; and – my personal favourite – an abundance of buildable figure heads from the much-maligned Rise of Domo Eternals set to add some really tiny details at the base of the tail.

DeRa already made onto our Creation of the Year shortlist in 2024; can they go one better in 2025? Have a look through their other featured builds and see for yourself!

Three little birds, but not the Bob Marley variety

They say good things come in threes. That’s certainly true in the gaming sphere; look closely and you’ll see things pop up in threes all the time, from boss phases to collectible trinkets. And, as Cecilie Fritzvold‘s LEGO birds remind us, the world of Pokémon is no different! There are plenty of legendary or mythical ‘mons that make up a trio. Heck, for a time, the games themselves came in sets of three: Diamond-Pearl-Platinum, Gold-Silver-Crystal, etc. Cecilie is taking us back to the Red-Blue-Yellow era, though, and indeed we’re starting with red!

The three legendary birds didn’t have any bearing on the names of the games they appeared in – it’s purely coincidence that they’re the same colour. (And anyway, pedants will be aware that the original Japanese releases were Red and Green, not Red and Blue.) Moltres, the fire bird, is of course red. It follows that the icy Articuno is therefore mostly blue. Check out that awesome use of a vintage LEGO watch strap for the tail!

I’m sure some of you will be shouting at the screen that the games weren’t originally a trio; Pokemon Yellow only came along two years later. But it completes the set nicely, and means I can keep the tenuous link going with the coolest of the three birds: Zapdos. According to Cecilie, you shouldn’t touch this one. Not because it has the Static hidden ability (as of the 6th Generation of games) – it’s quite fragile apparently. But no less pretty a build for it!

Remarkable bird, id’nit, squire? Beautiful LEGO plumage

We’ve seen some incredible LEGO bird creations in recent years thanks to the explosion of molds and colors that can be interpreted as feathers, like this magnificent owl from TBB alum Nannan to this soaring eagle from Sakiya Watanabe. Now Sakiya (aka N.A.B.E._mocs) takes wing again with a brilliant scarlet macaw. The starring LEGO element for this feathered friend is the blue thruster blast from the Dreamzzz line, but the NPU doesn’t stop there. Sakiya makes excellent use of shells and feathers for the parrot’s face, with rubber bands on the cheeks and around the eyes for detail. As with the builder’s eagle, the bird is captured in a lifelike, dramatic pose. It’s a beautiful model from a builder with an impeccable eye for shape and form.

To learn more about the young builder and his passion for excellence, check out our interview with talented LEGO creator Sakiya Watanabe.

A fantastic LEGO kingfisher is in the cards

Every LEGO model tells a story, sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it’s mysterious, and sometimes it’s beautiful, like this kingfisher flying out of a deck of cards, holding the gold key of clubs in its beak, built by BigBrickStan for the latest Biocup LEGO building contest. Plant parts supplement the usual wing elements in two shades of blue, and the keys for all four suits are created with minimal parts.

Earthly Phoenix is a heavenly LEGO creation

In Chinese mythology, the peacock is seen as the earthly manifestation of the legendary phoenix, fènghuáng. Builder Jim Jo combines imagery of heaven and earth for this incredible LEGO tribute to the majestic bird. The peacock model is striking on its own, especially the cascading tail made from an alternating series of 2×1 plates and 1×1 rounds. The use of color is incredible as blues fade into greens. (We’ve noted before, Jim is a master of color!)

“De fènghuáng” is perched across a blossoming branch. In order to support the weight of the bricks, Jim constructed the branch around a custom metal armature. The pixel moon is built on a transparent baseplate so that it can be backlit. Sculpture, mosaic, and still life come together for a creation as heavenly as the phoenix.

Lord of the Wings

Sometimes the inception of an original creation comes from a single LEGO part, whether by looking at it in a new way or, as doubtless was the case for this Lord of the Rings tribute by builder Stefan Johansson, by making the absolute most of an apparently natural application. Stefan sets the bar sky high (and crosses fantasy franchises) with this use of the Thunderbird head element from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, fleshing it out into a perfectly proportioned Great Eagle of Tolkien’s Middle-earth. The texture achieved by combining a wide variety of tiles across the wingspan really elevates this creation (beautiful plumage, innit?) and the restrained lighting both hides the model’s single transparent support and captures the mood of one of the film’s memorable scenes where Frodo and Sam hail a lift home after an epic guys’ night out. (What happens in Mordor stays in Mordor, am I right?)

The Great Eagle follows Stefan’s majestic dragon Smaug. Can we expect an oliphant next?

LEGO birds (some assembly required)

Do you remember those building kits that let you assemble your own airplane or bird? No, not LEGO. The kits made from balsa wood or Styrofoam that were a step up from paper airplanes. LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery alum ArzLan lets nostalgia take flight with a pair of easy-to-assemble bird planes that perfectly capture the 2D designs and die-cut slots of the classic toys. I can practically feel the disappointment as they inevitably nosedive, crack a wing, and end up in the waste-bin after a few good flights.

Fabulous Final Fantasy Carriage and build your own chocobo [Instructions]

If there’s one thing you can count on with a Final Fantasy game, even more than chocobos, moogles, or a mechanic named Cid, it’s the inevitable remake. In that spirit, Kevin Wanner, the Brick Ninja, revisits an earlier build with an all-new LEGO recreation of a beloved Final Fantasy VII scene. It’s impressive to see how the builder has grown in the intervening years. The chocobo looks fluffier than ever with a rounder aesthetic, and the terrain goes from afterthought to an immersive scene with integrated lighting. The main attraction is the carriage itself, which Kevin redesisgned from the ground up. Expanded to 8 studs wide, the carriage is now proportional and screen accurate and features an interior space for Tifa to make her under-cover trip to Don Corneo’s.

But about that chocobo, if you’re interested in building your own, click on the poster below for Kevin’s free instructions.

Honk if you love geese!

According to his biography, when he’s not building LEGO spaceships, Thomas Harding can be found photographing pigeons. That affinity for birds must extend to geese as well, as Thomas rustled up this charming fellow for us to take a gander at. Thomas first tried to make the Canadian goose using only the remaining parts from his phenomenal deer alt-build using parts from 31154 Forest Animals: Red Fox, but the plan didn’t quite fly. With a few extra parts, the bird came together swimmingly. I especially love the minimalist yet unmistakable head. It’s funny how the 2×3 design plate was first designed for simulating rock, but has found life in LEGO sets as fur and feathers.

Honk!

A Goodfeather never rats on his friends

There’s something about this pigeon that I don’t trust. The way he stares with disdain as he paints the sidewalk with suspicious white dots… I’m not saying he’s connected to the mob, but he’s definitely a made bird. Made out of LEGO by Tobias Whelan [Intense Potato], to be specific. The builder is best known for vehicles and buildings (including New Hashima and the amazing Medina al Musawrah collab), but this foray into animal builds shows his range. Tobias wanted to experiment with some of the newer curved elements that LEGO has added to the mix, as seen in the shaping of the bird’s head and chest. My favorite parts use has to be minifig arms for the bird’s toes. A common pigeon from an uncommonly talented builder.

A beautiful bird and a praise-worthy pun

As much as we like coming up with witty comments about the LEGO builds we feature on TBB, sometimes, the original title says it all. A tip of the hat to Mike Sinclair, who has conjured up a superb ornithological pun to go with this creation: “No Egrets.” But even referring to it just as a great blue heron – which bird this depicts – would have been accurate enough. It’s immediately recognisable as a heron, the blue plumage is wonderfully textured, and it does indeed look great! Impressively, the heron’s full weight is balanced on just one leg and a reed towards the back. Together the reeds, water, and a hidden dragonfly elevate this build from a brilliant bird to a terrific tableau of nature. Bravo, Mike!