State Bird Prints: The Complete 50-State Guide

Every US state has an official bird, and every state has its own plate in our collection, a single print gathering the species that define that place. Not one bird standing in for a state, but a composed group: the official state bird alongside the specialty species a longtime birder in that state would recognize as distinctly theirs.

This is the guide to that collection: what a state plate actually shows, who tends to buy one, and how to pick the right state and the right occasion.

What is a “Birds of {State}” plate, exactly?

Each state plate is a single composed print in the Audubon tradition, built around that state’s most characteristic birds rather than just its single official state bird. A Birds of Texas plate, for instance, centers the Northern Mockingbird (the official state bird since 1927) but places it alongside signature species like the Green Jay, the Painted Bunting, and the Golden-cheeked Warbler, birds that read as distinctly Texan to anyone who’s spent time birding the Rio Grande Valley or the Hill Country.

That’s the difference between a state plate and a single-species print: a state plate is a portrait of a place, built from the birds that place is actually known for, not just the one bird a legislature happened to name in a resolution.

Who buys a state bird print, and why

A new home in a new state

Moving is disorienting in small ways for months after the boxes are unpacked. A state bird print gives a new house one fixed, recognizable thing on the wall from week one, before the rest of the decor has caught up. It’s a gift that says something true and specific about where someone lives now, which is harder to do with almost any other kind of housewarming gift.

A college send-off

A student leaving for a school two states away carries a version of the same disorientation. A print of their home state, or their new one, works as a quiet piece of continuity for a dorm room or first apartment, something that isn’t generic dorm decor and isn’t obviously “from home” either. It reads as decor first, sentiment second, which is exactly the right ratio for that age.

A homesick family member

For anyone who’s relocated and misses the specific texture of where they grew up, whether that’s the Cardinal country of the Midwest or the Painted Bunting range of the Gulf Coast, a state plate does something a generic bird print can’t: it names the place. That specificity is the entire gift. A print of “birds in general” says nothing. A print of Birds of Ohio, for someone from Ohio, says a great deal.

How the signature-species galleries work

Each state page on the site carries more than the plate itself: a signature-species gallery showing the individual birds that make that state distinctive, drawn from the same research that built the composed plate. Texas’s page, for instance, surfaces the Whooping Crane, the Green Jay, and the Pyrrhuloxia alongside the state’s more familiar residents like the Northern Cardinal and Mourning Dove.

That gallery matters for buying a gift, because it lets you go one level more specific than the state plate itself. If you know the recipient’s single favorite bird from their home state, rather than the state as a whole, the signature-species gallery is where you’ll find the individual print of that one species, alongside the composed state plate if you’d rather give both. It’s the same logic that makes a state’s backyard birds worth knowing in the first place: someone who can already attract owls to their own garden usually knows exactly which species define their home state, long before they see the plate.

Browse the full set at our state index, organized alphabetically with every state’s signature species listed on its own page.

A few states worth starting with

Texas holds more recorded bird species than any other state in the country, a function of its size and its position on major migration corridors. The Birds of Texas plate reflects that range, from Gulf Coast waders to Hill Country specialties.

California runs from Pacific coastline to high desert to the Sierra Nevada, and its plate carries that same range, coastal and mountain species that wouldn’t appear together on almost any other state’s print.

Florida is built around its wading birds and its subtropical specialties, Roseate Spoonbills, Anhingas, species that barely cross into the rest of the country at all.

New York balances its urban Peregrine Falcons against Adirondack forest species, a state plate that has to hold both New York City and the North Country at once.

Illinois, home to the Northern Cardinal as state bird since 1929, sits at the center of the cardinal’s historic range, and its plate reflects a state that has always been cardinal country. For a family with roots there, a state plate paired with an individual cardinal print, the same bird that inspires so many memorial and remembrance gifts, often makes a more personal pairing than either print alone.

Virginia, another of the seven cardinal states, carries a plate built around Blue Ridge and Chesapeake Bay species alongside its cardinal identity.

Choosing between a state plate and a single-species print

If the recipient has a clear favorite bird, the single-species print is the safer, more personal choice. If the gift is about a place rather than a bird, a new address, a state someone left, a state someone’s proud of, the composed state plate does something a single species can’t: it stands in for the whole place at once.

Some buyers choose both, a state plate as the anchor piece and a signature species print from the same state’s gallery as a smaller companion piece, arranged together as a small gallery wall.

The states people ask about most, beyond the obvious

A handful of states come up again and again for reasons that have nothing to do with size or bird count.

Ohio and Kentucky, both cardinal states, are frequent requests from people who grew up in the Midwest and moved elsewhere. The cardinal’s presence across the Ohio Valley runs deep enough that a Birds of Ohio or Birds of Kentucky plate tends to register as instantly recognizable to anyone with roots there, even if they’ve been away for decades.

Arizona, thanks to its desert specialties, the Cactus Wren, the Gila Woodpecker, birds that don’t range into most of the rest of the country, makes a distinctive gift for a Southwest transplant who wants something other than the cardinals and blue jays common to eastern-state prints.

Massachusetts, with its mix of coastal seabirds and inland forest species, is a common choice for New England natives now living out of state, and pairs naturally with a Cape Cod or coastal-themed room.

Buying a state print as part of a larger gift

A state plate rarely needs to stand alone. Paired with a handwritten note about why that state matters to the recipient, or given alongside a smaller keepsake tied to the same place, the print becomes less a piece of wall art and more a specific, considered gesture. That pairing matters more for a state print than for almost any other kind of bird print, since the entire appeal rests on the recipient recognizing themselves in the choice.

FAQ

Is there a state plate for every US state?

Yes, all fifty states are covered, each with its own composed plate and its own signature-species gallery on the site.

What size should I order for a state plate as a gift?

The 16x20 is the most popular size for a state plate meant to anchor a wall on its own. The 24x30 suits a larger room or an entryway; the 8x10 works well paired with other prints in a gallery wall, or as a smaller, more affordable option starting from $39 unframed.

Can I get a state plate with the actual state bird made larger or more prominent?

Each plate is composed as a single fixed piece rather than customized per order, but many states also have their official state bird available as its own single-species print, which you can pair with the state plate for exactly that emphasis.

Do you ship state prints outside the US?

Yes. Shipping is free worldwide on every print in the collection, physical or digital, and physical orders ship within a week.