David Sibley picks the winners of our Instagram art contest

This spring, BirdWatching teamed up with David Sibley and his publishing company, Knopf, on a bird art contest. We invited artists to submit their images of wild birds on Instagram using the hashtag #SibleyBirdWatchingArtContest. More than 200 works of art were submitted, and now we’re thrilled to announce the winners. They were chosen by David Sibley himself.

Here they are, along with links to the artists’ Instagram pages and Sibley’s comments about each piece:

First Place – Kookaburra

by Nate Hawks, @natehawksart

Sibley says: “A really pleasing and confident illustration of a Kookaburra, capturing the roundness of the head and body, the plane of the tail, etc., with a nice color scheme.”

The prizes for first place are copies of Sibley’s books What It’s Like to be a Bird and The Sibley Birds Coloring Field Journal and a subscription to BirdWatching. 

Second Place – Sunset wading birds

by June Klement, @juneklement

Sibley says: “A wonderfully evocative sketch of these birds, great colors and composition, and perfectly captures the evening light.”

The prize for second place is What It’s Like to be a Bird. 

Third Place – Common Yellowthroat

by Emily Renaud, @emilyphoenixart

Sibley says: “A wonderfully accurate portrait of a Common Yellowthroat, executed with delicacy and style.”

The third-place prize is a copy of The Sibley Birds Coloring Field Journal. 

Thanks to everyone who entered, and congratulations to the winners! 

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Read our interview with Sibley about his latest book, “What It’s Like to be a Bird”

Read Sibley’s column, “ID Toolkit”