Feather first met ink thousands of years ago with the invention of the quill pen. Now, ink meets feather in a Tampa Bay artist’s journey to tattoo depictions of every Florida bird.
Harley, also known by artist pseudonym Grouchy Goblin Ink, announced this April that she was working on a field guide to Florida birds. Instead of pictures of each bird, Harley plans to use pictures of the tattoos she gives her clients. The book will be completed once she has reached the end of the list of over 300 birds regularly seen in the Florida wilderness.
Harley also wants to use the project to raise money for local bird rescues. Clients can get $50 off a tattoo of $200 or more by donating at least $10 to Seaside Seabird Sanctuary in Indian Shores or Owl’s Nest Sanctuary for Wildlife in Odessa.
Harley has been working as a tattoo artist since her first apprenticeship in 2023. She operates out of Tootsie’s Tattoo, a “queer, nonbinary and femme-operated” shop, according to the business’s social media. If you have ink by Harley, there’s a good chance it’s an American traditional depiction of either an element of the natural world, a circus clown or Garfield the cat.
Birds have been an element of fascination for Harley since childhood, but she seriously got into birdwatching as a hobby when she first saw pictures of Egyptian vultures. “After seeing pictures of these cool vultures and starting to learn more about local birds, it just became a very big interest,” Harley told The Sapphic Sun. “My partner’s also really into nature and birding. So together, we’ve just kind of both become really engrossed in being outside and looking at critters.”
Harley’s love for birds started bleeding into her designs. So far, she’s tatted clients with great blue herons, crested caracaras, brown pelicans and roseate spoonbills. Now, with her new project, Harley plans to expand her repertoire to include all the birds regularly seen across the state.
Sometimes, Harley insists on seeing a bird in the wild before she drafts up a design. She waited to tattoo a Florida scrub jay until she had captured one on camera. “You can see them through pictures and videos, but it’s not the same as going in person and looking at them,” Harley told The Sapphic Sun. “It’s fun to take my own reference photos. If I know I can see a bird, I try to go see it first.”
Harley moved from Alabama to St. Petersburg in 2019, and she quickly fell in love with the Florida wilderness. “I started by going to look for gators, because seeing the alligators is really cool if you don’t live anywhere with alligators,” she said. “Then I just became fond of seeing all the different native plants and birds.”
This isn’t Harley’s last bird-related project. She will soon design a flash sheet of Owl’s Nest Sanctuary’s “ambassador birds,” which are birds that are not releasable because of an inability to survive in the wild. These birds are the sanctuary’s permanent residents and act as educational ambassadors at conservation events.
The field guide will take a long time to complete, as it will involve designing and tattooing hundreds of birds. Put simply, Harley is ready for the challenge: “I’m just really excited about the project, and I can’t wait to tattoo all the birds.”
Anyone who wants to take part in the project by getting a bird tattoo can schedule an appointment at venue.ink/@grouchygoblinink or via Harley’s Instagram @grouchygoblinink.
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This article appears in May 07 – 13, 2026.