When artist and “bird guy” Mike McLean started painting willie wagtails on discarded fence palings on Victoria’s Surf Coast, he had little idea of the phenomenon about to take flight.

But his colourful images, which he gives away free to Torquay residents and sells for $20 to others, found a life of their own during COVID and have since migrated around the world.

An Instagram page documenting the wagtails’ spread shows them on first-class flights, at temples in Japan, the canals in Venice, on the foreshore in Santa Monica and even on an icy runway in Antarctica. 

The artist’s willie wagtail paintings have travelled widely, including to Japan. (Supplied)

The artworks also made it to Thailand. (Supplied)

A willie wagtail painting seen in an airplane’s cockpit. (Supplied)

No continent is safe from the colourful birdies, including Antarctica. (Supplied)

The Torquay artist started painting his ubiquitous wagtails a decade ago as an afterthought with materials left over from other bigger works.

He estimates he has since painted thousands of the birds. 

“I just think it’s a really powerful, strong, cool image inspired by pop art and Andy Warhol’s repetition,” says McLean of their appeal.

“They make people happy and there’s a lot of joy.”

The birds have proved adaptable invaders, taking to rural, suburban and retail areas, and have been used to display house numbers and even table numbers in a Torquay cafe.

A treasure hunt around Torquay

For Torquay resident Laura and her two children Spencer and Harper, jumping on bikes or scooters and searching for the willie wagtails around town has become a favourite past-time.

The colourful birds are not hard to find around Torquay, popping up in front windows, spray painted to walls and even hanging in trees.

“We love the wagtails,” Laura says.

“All these years later we’re still doing it.”

They have been wagtail hunting for up to three hours at a time when they spotted up to 89 of the birds.

“We will often pick up a couple of the boys’ mates on the way and go for a big ride around all of Torquay,” Laura says. 

“That includes stopping at the bike jump park, the beach, but mostly spotting the wagtails.”

Four-year-old Harper says it’s fun to spend “ages” looking for wagtails. Her nine-year-old brother Spencer loves to make a day of it.

“It’s like an Easter egg hunt but with willy wagtails,” says Spencer, adding that instead of chocolate eggs they stop at the local ice cream shop for sustenance.

In a relatively new residential neighbourhood in Torquay the birds bring the community together. 

Local canine groomer Sally Sexton is only too happy to take a break from washing dogs to discuss why she has a willie wagtail painting in her front window.

“I think it’s really nice for the kids to walk around and have a look around,” she says.

“I think most of us got them during COVID and it brightened everything up for us.”

Cherry Fitzpatrick from Barwon Heads says she has noticed the wagtails spreading around Torquay, the rest of the Surf Coast and the Bellarine Peninsula.

She says they make her happy.

“I think it’s great. I’m going to take one over to my son in the Netherlands,” Ms Fitzpatrick  says.

A happy distraction during a tough time for artists

Mike McLean continues to paint the birds on old fence palings using donated paint.

The birds are time-consuming, taking up two to three hours of his day, but the artist looks at that time as meditation.

The focus on the sprightly birds has distracted McLean from what has been a tough few years for artists.

“I think the creative arts have really been hit hard because people don’t have money to spend on luxury items,” he says.

“They may be going on less holidays, going out to cafes for breakfast, lunch or dinner less, and painting sales have dropped.”

McLean’s now planning a massive flock of wagtails to really grab people’s attention.

“My creative ambition with the wagtails is to do large flocks of joy. So, large installations,” he says.

“Imagine a tree in a field with 100 wagtails all over it, or a giant wall with different geometric patterns. I’m very excited for the future.”

Even in his other larger pieces the wagtail image comes through. And McLean does not mind that they seem to have taken over his practice.

“It does make me smile that I’m known as the bird guy,” he says.