Every Day Is Special: April 8

April 8 – Draw a Bird Day

Posted on April 8, 2014

In Memory of Dorie Cooper

The origin of this day is at once heartwarming and tragic, happy and sad.

In 1943, a little girl named Dorie Cooper lived in England with her family. Her uncle had been injured in World War II, and Dorie went to the hospital with her mother to visit him.

Dorie's uncle was down in the dumps. He had lost his leg, and his life would never be the same again.

Dorie tried to think how to cheer him up. She asked her uncle to draw her a bird, and she ended up laughing with him at the finished drawing. She assured him that she would definitely put this bird picture on her bedroom wall.

Somehow, that attempt to draw a bird had lifted the wounded veteran's spirits. Other wounded soldiers had gotten into the exchange, too, and had teased Dorie's uncle about his artistic endeavor, and had forgotten their own troubles for a minute or two.

The next few times Dorie visited, several of the soldiers showed off their own skills at drawing birds – and it became a thing. There were drawing contests, and the walls of the hospital ward were covered with bird pictures within a few months.

Tragically, Dorie was killed – hit by a car – when she was just ten years old. So many soldiers, nurses, and doctors sent bird drawings to her funeral, her coffin was covered with them. And every year on Dorie Cooper's birthday – April 8 – these nurses and doctors would remember her with Draw a Bird Day.

Of course, such things tend to spread. Now people all over the world honor Dorie's memory, and some submit their bird drawings to a Draw a Bird Day website.

You can have fun drawing all sorts of birds. It really helps to look at actual birds and how they move and fly, and it's even more helpful for beginners to draw birds from photographs or drawings. Try doing a step-by-step tutorial such as this You Tube lesson or this partially-animated website.

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