The Artist Painting 1,000 Birds by Hand — for an App That Wants You Outside

In a small town on the California coast, an artist named Keith Hansen paints birds — one by one, entirely by hand. He has finished more than 420 watercolor paintings, and he still has nearly 600 more to complete. His goal is to paint every bird species ever recorded in the United States and Canada. All of those paintings will appear inside a phone app called Flock, which has an unusual mission: to get people off their phones and into the outdoors.

Hansen is a well-known bird illustrator and author. He first fell in love with birds in sixth grade, when his brother pointed out a cedar waxwing on a walk in the Maryland woods. He started drawing birds in high school and has been doing it ever since. Today he works out of his own gallery in Bolinas, which he opened in 1991.

The Flock app was created by two of Hansen's friends, Adam Donkin and Bob Stevenson. Donkin, 52, worked for years as a product and user experience designer and helped design several models of Amazon's Kindle e-reader. Stevenson, 58, grew up in Scotland, started his first company at 18, and later spent decades working on video games in California. Despite coming from different backgrounds, all three men share a deep love of birds.

Stevenson didn't discover birding until 2016, when Donkin visited his home near Richardson Bay — a key resting spot for migrating water birds. Donkin encouraged him to try it, and Stevenson quickly became hooked. He bought binoculars, cameras, and even opened his own photo gallery. He also noticed how much birding felt like playing a video game, with skill-building, collecting, and a helpful community.

The idea for Flock grew from a worry about the future of birding. A bird society leader told Stevenson that younger people weren't getting interested in the hobby — and that was a problem, since birders often become protectors of birds and wild places. Donkin agreed that birding naturally leads to caring about nature. 'Birding creates an infinite well of curiosity,' he said. 'You start to notice things and think, well, how can I help?'

Donkin and Stevenson worked hard to make Flock different from other apps. They did not want to hook users the way social media does. Instead, they wanted Flock to act like a companion to being outside. They funded the project themselves so they could build it without outside pressure. Their goal was simple: use the tools of app design to point people away from their screens and toward the real world.

The app has a clean, simple design. Users can search for birds or other users, record sightings, and check a monthly leaderboard showing how many species each person has spotted. There is also a community section for sharing photos and encouraging others. Instead of a 'like' button, Flock uses a 'high-five' button, so users celebrate each other's bird sightings rather than chasing popularity.

Hansen's paintings are added to the app starting with the most common birds, so users see familiar species first. Each painting can take up to four days to finish. Recently, the team used artificial intelligence to turn the still paintings into short, lifelike animations. The great blue heron now tiptoes along a sandy bank and slowly lowers its bill to the water. The white-crowned sparrow darts its head around, just like a real sparrow would.

Flock launched in early 2025 and has grown to about 1,000 users without any advertising. Famous author Amy Tan, who wrote a book about the birds in her backyard, is one fan. She called Flock 'hands down the most beautiful bird app' and said watching each illustration come to life feels rewarding every time. Other users say the app has changed the way they notice the world around them.