J’orge Garcia is a Chicago-area birder who brings his unique skillset from working to support Chicago's maker community into our great birding community. He first discovered birding after modeling a 3D-printed lens mount to attach vintage lenses to a mirrorless camera. Jorge shared his birding journey online through Twitter as he explored printing postcards and learning about Chicago's avian diversity. Sharing online led Jorge to become increasingly involved in the local birding community.

Using photography and digital design, Jorge creates captivating graphic images that showcase the beauty of local birds. Jorge used techniques like these to teach people how to materialize their ideas in the Chicago Public Library Maker Lab and at the Museum of Science and Industry FabLab using laser cutters, 3D printers, and other digital manufacturing tools. He designed the Chicago BIPOC Birders’ Northern Flicker logo utilizing this technique and has done so again with the Urban Birding Festival Logo. The logo uses bird photos from local birders featuring iconic birds seen across the Chicagoland region as selected by the festival’s planning committee.

J’orge is the Director of the #citybirds project, leads birding at North Park Village Nature Center for Chicago Bird Alliance during migration seasons, serves on the board of the Illinois Ornithological Society, and previously coordinated the Birds in My Neighborhood program at Openlands. Check out his link-site to learn more about his bird projects, and follow him on Twitter (X) as yorickgarcia, his artist name.

Original Photo Credits:
American Redstart - Graham Deese
Rock Pigeon - yorickgarcia (J’orge)
Connecticut Warbler - Matt Zuro
Peregrine Falcon - Josh Engle