Tag Archives: Birds

Take flight with this stunning Cormorant

Nature photographer and bird-building extraordinaire Bram (skabram.builds) recently re-worked an older creation and shared this absolutely stunning Cormorant build! Bram is no stranger to incredible bird builds and has a unique ability to capture their likeness in brick form, but this is the largest creation we’ve seen from him yet and makes for a striking display piece. The head rotates, the wings are flexible via the use of various ball-joints, and there’s an alternate display in which the bird’s wings are tucked in. Our favorite view is the imposing wingspan side profile below, but this build is a sight to behold no matter which angle you view it from.

Fly on in and check out some alternate views of the Cormorant!

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The majesty of a magpie magnified

Lee Nuo is a self-proclaimed bird enthusiast, and we’ve covered some of their avian builds before. But this tribute to the Formosan Blue Magpie takes things to a new heights, putting the bird at the certain of a vignette about the natural sciences and those who study them. We love the stylized magnifying glass and it’s POV into the smaller world, along with the scaffolding and the research team. It all serves as a reminder that sometimes the most beautiful things about nature are the things you can’t see with the naked eye.

The second bird catches the fish – after it’s been rebuilt

Just because Sakiya Watanabe has been nominated for our LEGO Creation of the Year, doesn’t mean he’s going to rest on his laurels! And just to reinforce that dedication to improving his craft, here he presents an updated version of the bald eagle we featured 10 months back. We were full of praise at the time, but Sakiya wasn’t satisfied. The curse of the perfectionist! In case you can’t spot the differences, they include an updated tail, water splash and head. The photo angle also appears to have been carefully selected to better hide some of the underlying structure. There is one thing that hasn’t changed, however. We’re just as awe-struck this time around!

A legendary bird for a legendary builder

Nathan Don, aka Woomy, is a moc legend who created many unforgettable characters in LEGO in recent years and inspired countless other builders before joining the Billund mothership as a set designer. When alex_mocs wound up in the position of creating a Secret Santa build for Nathan, it must have felt both an honor and intimidating. What to build for the builder who can build anything? The resulting gift, a bird called Shirakaze (meaning “white wind”), is a brilliant tribute to Nathan’s past works and a showcase of Alex’s talents. For inspiration, Alex looked primarily at Nathan’s Boreal Vixen, Avian Bonsai, and The Wizard’s Emissary, synthesizing colors, elements, and themes from each. The feathering techniques used on the head are especially impressive, with elements recessed into the skull to hide connections and create a beautiful crest. The dark red foliage is an elegant toch that helps the bright bird pop even more. It’s a gorgeous gift from one legend to another.

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

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.