Christmas guide · Updated October 2026
Christmas Gifts for Bird Lovers and Bird Watchers
Bird watchers have their own Christmas traditions: the Twelve Days as real birds, and the Christmas Bird Count, which has run through the holidays since 1900. This guide collects the pieces that suit both, from a Gray Partridge drawn the way a partridge actually looks to a painted stocking for the mantel.
Every bird is checked against the field guide, so the cardinal has the right crest and the kinglets are the right size. Everything is made to order. Allow up to 10 days to make it, then 5 to 10 business days in the post, so order early in December rather than late. There is more on the shelf in Christmas, and the species name is on each piece, so you do not need to know the bird.
The Twelve Days, drawn as real birds
The carol only works if you take the birds seriously. We did.
The first gift of the carol, drawn as a Gray Partridge should be: orange face, chestnut horseshoe on the belly. Lettered by hand and re-inked for every shirt colour.
Colly means coal-black, so the fourth day is four blackbirds with yellow bills and eye-rings drawn right. For anyone who has ever corrected the lyrics.
Seven Mute Swans in an arch, and yes, we counted. Lettered by hand and re-inked for every colour, for the person who will check the number before saying thank you.
Sandhill Cranes dance all year, not just in courtship, and ours are a pair mid-leap in a flat stitch style under a gold IX. The ninth day, with the right birds.
The partridge as a large front print on a garment-dyed heavyweight crewneck, for the Christmas Eve walk and every cold morning after it.
A Blue Jay among oak leaves and acorns. Jays plant more oaks than people do, burying acorns they never come back for. Fleece, printed front and back.
For the Christmas Bird Count
Count day is its own holiday for plenty of birders. These are for the ones heading out before dawn.
A count-day badge for the oldest winter tradition in birding, with a chickadee at its centre. Lettered by hand and re-inked for every colour.
A Great Horned Owl under the moon on the night before count day, when the owlers are already out. A big print on a heavyweight crewneck.
The winter count in one scene that runs all the way round: snowy owl on the fence, downy woodpecker, chickadees and a junco, tally marks under the stars. 15 oz ceramic.
Tallies by species, the temperature at dawn, the mile marker where the shrike was sitting. A deep spruce hardcover with lined pages, for the person who already owns the clipboard.
Count volunteers tally every bird in a circle 15 miles across, mostly in the cold. A waffle knit beanie, embroidered, for the long hours standing in a field.
Christmas tees and crewnecks
Winter birds on heavyweight garment-dyed cotton, for the week of cold walks and relatives.
A Northern Saw-whet Owl as the star on top: no ear tufts, the white Y between the eyes. Printed large on a heavyweight crewneck.
Snow Buntings nest farther north than almost any songbird and come south with the snow. A crewneck for anyone whose idea of a white Christmas includes small flocks.
A Snowy Owl worked in Fair Isle stitch-chart style, a knitted look on a printed garment-dyed crewneck. Quiet enough to wear past December.
Three Golden-crowned Kinglets, each about a fifth of an ounce, out all winter anyway. A tee for the friend who admires small tough things.
A Black-capped Chickadee sits on a string of big old-fashioned bulbs with holly and a glow round every one. Naturalist good cheer without the novelty.
Stockings
Fleece stockings with one painting each, from chickadees under a papercut star to a snowy owl on a winter night. Cream cuff, printed front and back.
The one red bird nobody has to look up. Males and females both sing, and both stay put all winter. A 16 inch pillow for the chair by the window.
The bird that turns up at the feeder on the coldest morning of the year, two of them under one star, on a soft fleece stocking printed front and back.
A Dark-eyed Junco in falling snow, the little grey snowbird that arrives with the first cold front, on a soft fleece stocking printed front and back.
Snow Buntings circling a lit tree, the Arctic birds that winter on open fields and beaches, on a soft fleece stocking printed front and back.
A Hermit Thrush on a snowy branch on Christmas Eve. Thrushes pair up and share the nest work, which makes it a good one for couples. Fleece, printed front and back.
A hummingbird at a poinsettia, the one bird nobody expects on a Christmas stocking, on soft fleece printed front and back.
By the fire
For the cold hands, the late coffee and the chair by the window.
A chickadee puffed into a perfect snowball on a snowy branch, with a second one on a birch twig round the back. A 15 oz ceramic mug with a red inside.
Two Black-capped Chickadees on a snowy white-pine bough, the snow running down into the white of the cup. A 12 oz insulated wine tumbler with a clear lid.
Snowbird is what people call the small grey junco that turns up with the first cold snap. A cuffed knit beanie, embroidered, for the first frosty mornings.
A Black-capped Chickadee as a soft pillow cut to the bird's own outline, painted like a field-guide portrait. It looks right on a sofa near the window with the feeder.
Questions
When should I order for Christmas?
Everything is made to order: allow up to 10 days for making, then 5 to 10 business days in the post within the US. Order early in December, or sooner, to be comfortable.
Will the price show on the packing slip?
No. Prices are left off the packing slip, so a gift can go straight under the tree.
Can I change or cancel a gift order?
Within 2 hours of ordering, yes: email us with the order number. After that it has usually gone to print.
Is there free shipping?
Yes, on US orders of $120 and over. Below that it is a $7.95 flat rate, and you pay it once even if the order arrives in more than one parcel.