Tag Archives: Birds

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.

Canada Goose

Honk!

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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.

Rock Dove

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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!

No Egrets

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Hoo-HOO wants a wise winter friend?

This year, when not expanding on the epic Middle Eastern fantasy land of Mophet or setting sail with the Black Falcons, Andreas Lenander has had birds on the brain. Just in time for winter, the Swedish builder shares his third whimsically designed LEGO bird: this snowy owl. Like Andreas’ fall owl, this one incorporates foliage and tail elements into the plumage, but this time it’s the eyes that fascinate from a ring of Unikitty tails. In a year that’s seen so many amazing owl builds, Andreas still finds ways to innovate!

Winter owl

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LEGO turkey is hot to trot this Thanksgiving

Today many of our American readers are no doubt sitting around a table with friends, loved ones, and that one annoying uncle, looking for ways to avoid talking about politics or football before carving into that centerpiece bird. Not this turkey! LEGO builder Lee Nuo presents the one that got away. With this gobbler on the lam, it means more room for dressing, yams, Brussels sprouts, or an extra slice of pie!

逃亡的青銅火雞-Escaping Bronze Turkey

As always, we at the Brothers Brick are thankful to be a part of this amazing LEGO fan community. Whether it’s helping to share creations from builders around the world or bringing you news and reviews to help you navigate the hobby, we’re all motivated by a shared love for the creativity that flows from our favorite bricks.

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He’s just a spoonbill, yes he’s only a spoonbill

Birds and botanicals have become beloved themes in LEGO and James Zhan excels at both with a model of a Black-faced spoonbill wading through lotus flowers. James perfectly captures the endangered bird’s unique shape, accenting the brick-built body with balloon panels and a few Technic panels as plumage. A banana under the eye adds appealing detail. James has been creating lifelike flora and fauna in LEGO for years. We especially liked his pygmy seahorse hiding in coral, walking iris in a brick-shaped planter, and this whimsical hybrid of hedgehog and floral arrangement.

Platalea minor

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A gilded birdcage from a golden age

The LEGO creations of Qian Yj aren’t just remarkable achievements in building with bricks. They transport the admirer to another place or time, whether at minifig or 1:1 scale. For his latest build, Qian creates a lifesize LEGO birdcage and its smol birb occupant. The mix of colors soars, especially the pairing of gold and bright blue. A simple 2×1 grille plate is fresh and exciting when used in abundance in an unfamiliar context. For the birdcage’s gold bars, Qian uses piano wires from the LEGO Ideas Grand Piano. As beautiful as the model is, I’m glad to see the small red songbird enjoying life outside the cage. Good birb.

Classical Birdcage

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A(nother) peacock’s plume in bloom – this time dressed all in white

You may recall that this time last year, we featured a colourful LEGO peacock courtesy of Dad’s Bricks (Joe). Since then, said peacock has gone on to be displayed at the LEGO House in Denmark – leaving poor Joe peacock-less. The solution? Build another! And it’s just as pretty as the first one. It uses a similar technique for the tail, being made up of leaf and foliage parts. But the monochromatic colour choice of white gives it an altogether different feel. This time, the colours are confined to the base, creating a lovely contrast, and drawing the eye towards this bird’s sole bit of colour: its eye. Hopefully we will get to see the two side-by-side before long!

[Art series - The white peacock]

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This LEGO build is no stab in the dark!

In the dark of night a fancy assassin finds its target in this LEGO build by Seth Peacock (Obsessionist)! This Bio-Cup bird brings together a wide array of unique parts, so let’s take a closer look. Right under the roofline, that decorative brickwork is made of Rhotuka Spinner launchers above a couple of pieces from Bionicle’s Rahkshi. The arch of the window is made from two different types of rubber band holders, while the windowsill is made from projectile launchers. Finally, Seth got a lovely feathery texture from using the Visorak foot to make up the bird’s tail. It’s a good thing that bird isn’t a crow, otherwise there might be a murder!

Death to Tyrants

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Dueling wizard builds give us something to crow about

Sometimes great minds really do think alike, as evidenced by two rhyming vignettes created for the Summer Joust “Beast Masters” category. Each creation features a brick-built blue spellcaster and their over-sized corvid companion, but despite similar theming, the two models demonstrate very distinct approaches to setting a LEGO scene. First up we have “The Wizard and the Raven” by Ids de Jong. Another admirer described the build as having an “I Spy appeal,” which is a great way to put it, with so many fun elements from throughout the years decorating the scene. The human figure, for which Ids credits the style to Markus Rollbühler, is definitely bringing strong wizard energy with the clever beard technique utilizing Gandalf’s hair piece. I love the personality of of the crow with the nightmare eyes from LEGO Dreamzzz, a good friend who seems eager to deliver scrolls to distant lands.

The Wizard and the Raven

Next is “Rook and Ruin” from builder Maxx Davidson (who’s been on a roll on the site lately with his whimsical creations!). Maxx’s vignette focuses a bit more on story as it captures the warlock mid-casting as his spell rips the ground asunder. I love the inspired use of a minifig arm for the warlock’s nose, the hand gripping a pair or roots to make the mustache. Nya’s Rising Dragon head makes for a wicked torso. The rook mixes smooth and spiky elements with a touch of pearlescent tiles to create some truly lovely plumage. Two mages, two crows, two magical builds!

Rook and Ruin

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What happens when you cross a vulture and a dinosaur?

Joss Woodyard has a thing for creative LEGO creature designs (just look at what he’s got in our archives). But since 2024 is the year of the dragon, what better excuse than to get some awesome dragons out of him? April’s entry takes inspiration from birds both ancient and present for a striking feathered fiend. It’s part bearded vulture, part Archaeopteryx – the feathered flying dinosaur from the Jurassic period. And the feathers are what really make this build stand out, using a variety of pieces from the Bionicle and Chima lines of years gone by.

Draconis Gypaetus

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A Colibri of the highest calibre

I do sometimes wonder where Andreas Lenander gets his inspiration for some of his more fantastical LEGO creations. Part of the fun is taking a guess, and for this one, I’m somehow getting a vibe of mythical Mesoamerican deities. It looks like some form of bird, but equally, it also looks like… Not quite a bird? The strange foliage and dragonfly-esque creature next to it certainly evoke somewhere exotic. Perhaps it’s a cousin of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent. As a matter of fact, Andreas has named this piece ‘Kolibri’, and Wikipedia tells me that Colibri is a genus of birds with brightly-coloured plumage from Central and South America. Hey, maybe my hunch isn’t that far off after all!

Kolibri

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