When 11-year-old Olivia Bouler published her self-illustrated book "Olivia's Birds, Saving the Gulf" (Sterling Publications, $14.95) last month, she decided to kick off her book tour at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology April 2.

"I thought it was symbolic and important to do it there," said Bouler, an aspiring ornithologist, artist and saxophone player from Islip, N.Y. "Some of the money from the book is going to my college fund because I am hoping to go to Cornell to become an ornithologist."

She also donated $750 from profits from her online store http://www.cafepress.com/oliviasbirds to the Cornell lab, and $450 to Project Puffin, a National Audubon Society seabird restoration program based at the lab.

In 2010, Bouler made national headlines as she single-handedly raised close to $200,000 for the Gulf oil spill recovery. Shocked by the disaster, Bouler wrote a letter signed "11 years old and willing to help" to the National Audubon Society. She offered to give away her bird paintings in exchange for donations. She has since created more than 500 paintings of some 150 backyard and endangered species. Some of those illustrations led to the book, which also includes bird facts and photos from her Save the Gulf campaign.

Bouler signed books at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Conserving Birds with Art and Words event April 2.

"The event was a great opportunity to connect kids who are interested in birds and art with this amazing young girl and practice how art is made," said Charles Eldermire, the Cornell lab's public education outreach associate, who helped organize the event.

The Cornell lab has a long-standing connection with bird art: It holds a large collection of bird art; lab founder Arthur Allen, an ornithologist and bird photographer, was a close friend of famed bird artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes; the lab regularly supports an artist-in-residence; and it offers the Bartels Science Illustration Internships that support bird and nature artwork that are often used in the lab's publications and websites, Eldermire said.

At the event, Jane Kim and Evaristo Hernandez-Fernandez, both Bartels Science Illustration interns, and Jessie Barry, project leader for the interactive online bird identification project Merlin, led various bird illustration activities and workshops. Children also had opportunities to make bird-related crafts, get their faces painted and go on bird walks. An estimated 500 to 600 people attended the event.

Along with selling many books, Bouler also got her face painted and saw her first cedar waxwing and American kestrel. "It was my first time" in Ithaca, said Bouler, adding that the visit helped confirm her dreams of attending Cornell in the future.