Free American Songbirds Illustrations: A Symphony of Colour and Art

Discover a collection of American Songbirds Illustrations that meld visual art with the melodic beauty of nature’s feathered virtuosos. Explore vibrant artwork capturing the essence of North America’s melodious avian treasures.

There are over 5000 different species of songbirds around the world. For this collection of vintage free bird downloads, I will focus on some of the most famous American Songbirds.

Facts About American Songbirds

1. Songbirds are birds whose vocal cords have developed in such a way that they can produce a melodic bird song. To me, the sound of songbirds is the sound of spring—the early morning “dawn chorus” as the weather begins to warm.
2. The songs of songbirds are used to mark territory and to attract mates.
3. Some male songbirds have quite a repertoire of songs to attract females, such as the nightingale and marsh warbler.
4. All songbirds are classified as perching birds. With three toes that point forward and one that points backwards, they can grip branches, grasses, or telephone wires with ease.
5. Other non-songbird species of birds, such as Parrots, may have songs that mark territory and attract mates, but these are often just called or simple repetitive songs, not like those more elaborate songs of the songbirds.
6. There are concerns that many species of American songbirds are being wiped out due to the effects of global warming and the misuse of banned pesticides. There is a book called “The Silence of the Songbirds” by the Canadian biologist Bridget Stutchbury.
7. The U.S. postal service bought out a collection of American songbird stamps in 2016 to celebrate ten of the most melodic voices.

How to Print The American Songbirds

To download the American songbird print you want, click on the title above that illustration. A higher-resolution image will open as a new window in your browser. If you then click on that image with your mouse, you can save it to your device.

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1. The Western Medowlark

” The western meadowlark has distinctive calls described as watery or flute-like” This lovely bird with a yellow breast is one of the songbirds imortalised in the US postal servies special issue of stamps. This is not surprising as the bird is the state bird for seven US states, Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming. 

This particular illustration, along with many other American Songbirds is from the “The birds of California: a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state”, published in 1923.

2. Mountain Bluebird – American Songbirds

A pretty little songbird with lovely blue colouring. It is the state bird of Nevada and Idaho. The Mountain Bluebirds song is a warbled high “chur chur”.

This American Songbird print is from the 1831 publication “The zoology of the northern parts of British America : containing descriptions of the objects of natural history collected on the late northern land expeditions under command of Captain Sir John Franklin”

3. Western Tanager

An American songbird with a rather monotonous song of short disconnected phrases. This painting of the Western Tanager is from the book ” Birds of The Rockies” published in 1902.

4. The Painted Bunting American Songbird

“The male painted bunting is often described as the most beautiful bird in North America and has been nicknamed nonpareil, or “without equal”.

The songbird print was from the archives of the University of Amsterdam and was painted between 1825-1834.

5. Baltimore Oriole

Not to be confused with the baseball team, the bird inspired the Baltimore Orioles. It actually got its name due to the bird’s colours resembling those of the coat of arms of Lord Baltimore. The Baltimore Oriole is the state bird of Maryland. This collection has a beautiful illustration of a Baltimore bird’s nest.

The birds song is a loud flutey whistle with a buzzy feel.

The illustration is from “Camera Studies of Wild Birds in Their Homes”, by Chester Reed, 1911.

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6. The American Goldfinch

An American songbird with a song that is a series of musical warbles and twitters, often with a long note.

The illustration is from the book “Bright feathers; or Some North American birds of beauty. Illustrated with drawings made from nature, and carefully colored by hand” 1880.

7. The White-Throated Sparrow

The lovely illustration of these American songbirds is by the famous artist John Jame Audubon, from his well-known ornithological book “The Birds Of America” 1840.

8. Wood Thrush

Thrushes may not be the most colourful and beautiful of the songbirds, but they are considered to have the most beautiful songs. The wood thrush in particular. The American naturalist Henry David Thoreau wrote:

Whenever a man hears it he is young, and Nature is in her spring; wherever he hears it, it is a new world and a free country, and the gates of Heaven are not shut against him.

This pretty print of a Wood Thrush is from the “Bird-life: a guide to the study of our common Birds”, 1901 by Frank Chapman.

9. American Robin

The American Robin isn’t related to the European Robin. However, it got its name because of the red breast, like that of the European Robin. The bird belongs to the Thrush family. It is the state bird of Connecticut, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

This lovely print of the American Robin is from “Bird life stories, comp. from the writings of Audubon, Bendire, Nuttall, and Wilson” (1904).

10. American Songbirds – Blue Jays

Another American songbird painting that has inspired the name of a baseball team. This time the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jay is native to North America and is very noisy. They are known to be beautiful, intelligent, and highly aggressive birds.

This beautiful print of a trio of Blue Jays is by John James Audubon form his famous book “Birds of America”.

11. Great Kiskadee

The Great Kiskadee is a flycatcher. Not the greatest singers of the songbirds which means that it has escaped from being caged and kept as a pet.

It does have a loud, exuberant call, BEE-tee-WEE, and the bird has an onomatopoeic name in different languages and countries: In Brazil, its popular name is bem-te-vi (“I saw you well”) and in Spanish-speaking countries, it is often bien-te-veo (“I see you well”) and sometimes shortened to benteveo.

12. White-Breasted Nuthatch

The White-Breasted Nuthatch is a very common small American Songbird. This particular vintage print is from the archives of the University of Amsterdam.

13. American Songbirds – House Wren

A very small songbird and the most common Wren in the Americas. The House Wren has a rich bubbly song that is almost exclusively heard during the nesting season.

Another lovely vintage bird print from “Bird-life : a guide to the study of our common birds” by Frank M. Chapman 1901.

14. Blue Jay

This blue jay painting is by Francois Le Vaillant in his collection of exotic bird paintings.

Other Songbird Paintings

There are a few more American songbird illustrations in the stunning Mark Catesby print collection.

One of my favourite songbirds is the blue tit, and I have curated a collection of vintage blue tit prints. And there are many Japanese songbird paintings in Ohara Koson’s birds.

I have a fun craft that uses these songbird illustrations to make a beautiful tin can wind chime for the garden.

If you liked these American Songbirds, check out some of these other copyright-free vintage bird prints to download.

• Collection of Toucan Paintings
• Adolphe Millot Natural History Posters