Poetry/Fiction

Turning Field Guides into Works of Art

September 1, 2026 by Erika Zambello No Comments


If you’re like me, you have a lot of field guides lying around. And I mean a lot. I have, of course, the guide that I still use regularly of the eastern birds of North America, but I also have field guides to Costa Rica (where I hope to go), Australia (where I’ve never been), the Caribbean (where I did actually check off a few species), and many outdated North American guides gifted to me by anyone who knows I like birding and is getting rid of things. That’s not even counting the field guides I have for butterflies, coral, wildflowers, and more. 

Do I love these field guides? Yes. But the truth is I often use the Audubon online guide or mobile app, the Merlin listening app, or iNaturalist to identify species, augmenting these sources with additional databases. My field guides are beautiful, but they sure do take up a lot of shelf space. What to do with them?

Turn them into art of course! 

To see two examples, see below. For a full tutorial, click here to see Audubon Florida’s website article!

Ladder-backed Woodpecker:

Male

Red

tufts.

stripes

black

on back.

Barred

Barred

feathers.

Red-bellied Woodpecker:

Female

head with red

forehead.

Barred parts.

Plain

parts.

Written by Erika Zambello
Erika is a writer, artist, and communications specialist living and birding in North Florida. Growing up in Maine, she spent summers swimming in chilly Atlantic Ocean waters, hiking fir-covered mountains, and rock-hopping within clear-running streams filled with trout. Quickly falling in love with the natural world, she has been hooked on outdoor exploration ever since. She has written for BirdWatching Daily, National Geographic Adventure, National Parks Traveler, the Maine Sportsman, the Florida Sportsman, and more.