Free Vintage Bird Pictures
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I fell in love with these bird pictures, which came along for the ride when I bought some CDs with vintage images. The colors and plumage on these birds are amazing in real life. But when you add the artists' talent into the mix, the results are breathtaking.
I've wanted to share these bird pictures for a while now. But I had a sneaking suspicion that they might not all be in the public domain as I was told they were when I bought the CDs. So I checked the Audubon Society's Web site to see if some of the illustrations came from there. Sure enough, several of them were painted by Audubon; so I removed them from this page. The Audubon Society holds the copyright on them and it's important to honor that. If anyone finds other Audubon images on this page, I would appreciate it if they would leave a comment below to tell me so I can remove them. The same goes for works by any other artists. If requested I would either remove the image or provide a credit/link (artist's choice).
Exotic and Tropical Birds
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Usage Restrictions
It's my hope that all the non-Audubon images are in the public domain, but I can't be sure. That's why -- unlike all my other pages that offer free images -- these illustrations are for your personal use only. Any commercial use is strictly prohibited. These prohibited uses include:
- On blogs or Web sites
- In craft projects you plan to sell
- In scrapbook kits
- As part of any print project, such as a book, brochure, business card, etc.
- As part of a product, such as a framed print, image on a mug, etc.
- Any other commercial use
Instructions for Downloading the Free Vintage Bird Pictures
Choose a small thumbnail version of any of the vintage bird pictures. When you click on one, it will appear larger.
Once you've chosen an image and see it larger, double-click on the larger image, which will make the best version of the art appear. Then, if you have a PC, just right-click and save the final version of the artwork to your hard drive. If you have a Mac, control-click to save it to your hard drive.
Owls
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Seabirds and Waterfowl
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Small Birds
Click thumbnail to view full-size
If you enjoy these vintage bird images, would you please vote for this hub at the bottom of he page?
Bird Images from Amazon
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Thanks, kerryg! :-)
Beautiful! Thank you.
You're welcome, kris.
Thank you for all the wonderful pictures of bird. I am making an altered book on birds and these are great.Thanks for all the work you did.
Wow, Debbie, these images would be wonderful for the project you described. I wish I could see the finished product. I hope you have a lot of fun making it!
OMG!!!! I can't believe all the work done here! I am sooooo thrilled to find this site! I absolutely love clip art and all the projects that can be done with it. Also thanks for some of your suggestions! This is my favorite place to be!!!!!!
Thanks, Charlene. I'm glad you enjoyed the birds!
Hi, WordPlay, here I am again to look at your pretty pictures. I have a few vintage plate with the old Audobon paintings. He made the birds look pretty weird because he painted most of them when they were dead. But the pictures are sooo cool. Thank you!
Hi Dolores. Thanks for your comment and for the fan mail you left me. I couldn't leave you any because I was already your fan!
That's interesting about Audubon painting dead birds. I never thought about it but it makes sense. It would be a little hard to get a live bird to pose. ;-)
Amazing how vintage things are so much more beautiful and valuable than are the things of 'today'...which will someday be vintage, so perhaps it too, will be beautiful and valuable to the eyes of the future?
Good point, Woody. I've often thought that myself. Maybe anime, cartoons and smileys will be the vintage art of choice for the people of the next century!
Wonderful images!
I have found such pic as them so lonnnnnng time!
thank you!
You're welcome, Decay-Day. I'm glad you enjoy the pictures.
I am so blessed to see these pics. Some fond memories are of things my grandmother had. I saved some so I could decopage some items for the house I'm moving to. Thank you so much. I prayed that the Lord would bless your heart and dreams. Nan
Thanks so much, Nan. I hope you're decoupages come out beautiful. :-)
Birds are amazing. I love pictures of beautiful birds. Thanks for the hub!
You're welcome, 2besure. I'm so glad you enjoy the pictures. :-)
Thank you!
You're welcome, Heather. Thanks for leaving a comment. :-)
everything i have seen on this site is beautiful and great inspiration for my crafting.thankyou
You're quite welcome, Sarah. I hope you have fun being creative!
Lovely
Thanks, Liz. :-)
Audubon would only own copyrights on the photos/jpgs. made from the work of Audubon that they have created themselves. They can not own any of the copyrights to Audubon's work in general because it was not painted for the society to begin with. In other words, Audubon himself never worked for the society named after him. He worked independently as an artist. His work therefore belongs officially to his direct heirs for approx. 65 years after his death. Then, it all passes into the public domain. What the society owns are the photos made from the originals in their collection.
If you purchase a work of an artist, you do not automatically own copyright. You may own the original piece but not the rights to use it and profit from it at will. The fact that the Audubon Society makes and sells print of Audubon's work proves this point. They could not do this without his work being in the public domain.
If however, the artist in question is employed by a company as a regular, staff employee, then the company may own the copyrights. Audubon never worked for the Audubon Society.
If you find a jpg. on the internet of Audubon's work, that jpg. could very well belong to the Audubon Society and in this case it would be under their copyright. However, this does not mean that they own copyrights on ALL photos and jpgs. made from public domain works by Audubon. This means that they only own what they have produced.
Thanks so much for that info, K. Grimm! That reinforces my opinion that these images should be for personal, non-commercial use only -- just not for the reasons I originally thought.
These are incredible!!!
Glad you enjoy them! :-)
Can't get any better! the color, the motifs and the detailing things where did you get all that! they look breath-stopping.
Hi, VivekSri. They are beautiful, aren't they? I wish I could say I painted them myself!
Excellent, useful, beautiful hub. I'm going to write some Haiku to go with one of your owls right now.
Thanks,
Dan
Thanks, Daniel. I'm glad the owl inspired you!
fantastic
These picures are so lovely, can't wait to frame them and hang in my bedroom. Thanks!!!
In the 'small birds' area there is shown 4 colorful bird photos - in each photo the bird is set against a grey sketch background....would you happen to know who the artist might be? Thanks for your help with this.
Sorry, I don't know. I wish I could be of more help.
I am having trouble printing these images. They are just printing a gray sheet. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks!
Is it possible you're out of colored ink in your printer? There may be another reason you're getting those results, but I can't personally think of any. Sorry about that!
They're lovely. How can I find what the birds are?
Sorry, I don't have that info. Perhaps you could check with a birdwatching site or blog. Just do a search for
"birds" or "birdwatching."
GREAT!
Beautiful pictures. Would love to see/be able to use Sibley black and white figures and drawings of birds in clip art collection. They are beautiful.
I never found much use for birds in my crafting until recently. I came here first to find some images, and am not disappointed. Thank you for continuing to provide so many wonderful vintage images of all sorts. This is a real treasure.
Fantastic site, my first time ever here. Thanks for all the gorgeous images. You are so kind to share these for free!
Muchas gracias por compartir
love the vintage bird shots! so precious to paste on a decoupage god box! thank u for making a christmas gift extra special. k
kerryg Level 1 Commenter 3 years ago
Very pretty!