Beauty
of Birds
Twenty-one years. Twenty-one species. One cardinal. One chickadee. One bluebird. Each one carrying a small gift of nature — and rendered in gem-accented, metalwork-detailed miniature that stops birdwatchers cold.
Where Ornithology Meets Jewelry
There are bird ornaments — cheerful, generic, adequate — and then there is the Beauty of Birds series. Launched in 2005 with a Northern Cardinal that immediately became one of the most sought-after Hallmark Keepsake ornaments ever produced, the series set a standard for naturalistic bird portraiture that no other Hallmark collection has matched in twenty years of trying.
The concept is elegant and deceptively simple: one North American bird species per year, perched on a natural branch or botanical element, rendered with gem details and metallic gold embellishments that give each piece the quality of fine jewelry. Each ornament in the series portrays a different bird carrying a small gift of nature. A dangling pine cone. A sprig of mistletoe. A flower blossom. A juniper branch. The bird is always the centerpiece, but it never appears alone — it always arrives bearing something, as if it has come to deliver a message from the natural world to your Christmas tree.
The series was created by Edythe Kegrize, one of the most decorated artists in Hallmark's Keepsake Studio, who sculpted it from its 2005 debut through her eventual retirement. Her aesthetic — drawing on her grandmother's costume jewelry collection for inspiration, using gem details and metalwork to elevate a bird from illustration to artifact — made every entry feel simultaneously scientifically accurate and completely magical. The Beauty of Birds series is one of the most successful Hallmark ornament series, with recent issues at KOC conventions becoming highly sought after.
"I don't really want to replicate nature because there's really no improving on it. I try to bring more of a decorative, idealized quality to it."
— Edythe Kegrize, Hallmark Keepsake Artist & Series Founder
Northern Cardinal #1 (2005) · Black-Capped Chickadee #2 (2006) · Blue Jay #3 (2007)
Two Artists, One Unbroken Vision
The Beauty of Birds series has been carried by two artists across its twenty-one years — each one bringing the same commitment to naturalistic accuracy and jeweler's attention to detail that defines the collection.
Edythe Kegrize made Hallmark history in 1998 as the first recipient of the Barbara Marshall Award. Her approach to the bird series was shaped by an unusual source: the costume jewelry her great-grandmother wore at Christmastime. Inspired by that heritage of decorative metalwork and gems, she translated each bird into a piece that is as much jewelry as it is naturalistic sculpture. "That bling-ful aesthetic has made it into my work," she said, "because I think it makes a good ornament." Her gem details and metallic gold embellishments became the series' signature — the thing that makes each bird look like it was found in a jewelry box as much as a forest.
Emma Leturgez-Smith came to sculpting through her grandmother — a painter who gave her art supplies as a child, sparking a love of making that led her to art school and eventually to Hallmark's Keepsake Studio. Her transition into the series began with a particularly meaningful first piece: the 2022 Tufted Titmouse was sculpted from a sketch that Edythe Kegrize had already designed before retiring. Emma brought that vision to life digitally, honoring her predecessor's concept before taking the series in her own direction. She continues to carry the gem-and-metalwork aesthetic forward.
#1 — Northern Cardinal (2005)
The ornament that started it all — and the most collectible piece in the series. The 2005 Northern Cardinal was produced in low numbers and immediately became one of the most popular Hallmark Keepsake ornaments with collectors. Its combination of the cardinal's iconic red plumage, Edythe Kegrize's gem-and-metalwork detail, and the weight of being the first in what would become a beloved twenty-year series makes it the piece every serious collector prioritizes. Finding it in mint in-box condition today is genuinely rare.
Shop the #1 Cardinal →Gifts From the Natural World
The series' defining detail — the one that elevates it beyond a simple bird portrait collection — is what each bird holds or perches beside. Each ornament in this series portrays a different bird carrying a small gift of nature. A dangling pine cone beneath the Evening Grosbeak's feet. Mistletoe under the Mountain Bluebird. Holly and berries for the Tufted Titmouse. A flower stem clasped by the Violet-Green Swallow. A pinecone charm on the Blackburnian Warbler.
These natural gifts are not merely decorative. They ground each bird in a specific habitat and season — the kind of detail a birdwatcher notices and immediately recognizes as correct. The cedar waxwing and berries. The cardinal and winter holly. The hummingbird and its flower. Each pairing is a small act of ornithological observation translated into three-dimensional jewelry.
The gem details and metallic gold embellishments that appear across the entire series are the series' other signature — the thing that gives these birds their quality of found objects, as if they'd been discovered in a vintage jewelry collection rather than sculpted from scratch. Edythe Kegrize drew this aesthetic directly from her great-grandmother's Christmas jewelry, and it has given the series a character that no amount of naturalistic accuracy alone could achieve.
Evening Grosbeak #17 (2021) · Steller's Jay #19 (2023)
The Art of Paying Attention
Birdwatching is fundamentally an act of attention. You slow down. You look carefully. You learn to recognize what you're seeing — the specific shape of a bill, the precise color of a wing bar, the way a particular species holds its body when it lands. The Beauty of Birds series rewards exactly that quality of attention in a collector.
Every ornament in this series is correct in its specifics. The woodpecker's red head, white and black body. The goldfinch's bright yellow summer plumage. The painted bunting's extraordinary patchwork of green, red, and blue. The blackburnian warbler's brilliant orange throat against its black and white wings. These are not approximate birds — they are particular ones, and any birdwatcher who encounters the right piece will stop and recognize it immediately.
For the birdwatcher in your life, this series is an act of recognition — an acknowledgment that what they see when they're out with binoculars is worth seeing, worth preserving, worth turning into something beautiful enough to hang on a Christmas tree year after year. That recognition is what makes the series genuinely personal in a way that most ornament collections are not.
Decoration Tips
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01Let the gem details catch the light. The series' signature metalwork and gemstone embellishments are designed to sparkle. Position these ornaments where tree lights can hit them directly — the difference between good and extraordinary display lighting is significant with these pieces.
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02Face them outward at eye level. Each bird's most striking features — the cardinal's red crest, the woodpecker's brilliant head, the bluebird's plumage — are best seen from the front. Hang them on branches where a viewer can actually meet their gaze.
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03A dedicated nature tree is their natural home. The Beauty of Birds series lives happily alongside other botanical and naturalistic ornaments — pinecones, botanical shapes, other bird pieces. On a tree with this aesthetic, they feel like they belong to the forest.
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04The perfect gift for any birdwatcher. Match the bird to the person's location or favorite species — the Baltimore Oriole for an East Coast birder, the Mountain Bluebird for a Western collector, the Steller's Jay for a Pacific Northwest fan. The specificity is the gift.
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05Warm white lights complement the naturalistic palette. The earthy greens, deep blues, and warm reds of this series glow under warm white lights. Cool blue-white strands flatten the gem colors and reduce the impression of depth that makes these ornaments extraordinary.
Display Tips
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01The 2005 Northern Cardinal is the crown jewel. Produced in low quantities and immediately popular, the series debut is the most collectible piece in the collection. If you're building a complete set, starting here is the right instinct — it only gets harder to find over time.
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02Watch for the "Lady" companion pieces. Many series entries have a female companion ornament — the Lady Cardinal, Lady Pine Grosbeak, Lady Evening Grosbeak — available as limited-edition Keepsake Premiere event exclusives. These pairs are increasingly sought-after and add a beautiful complementary dimension to the display.
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03Note the artist transition at #18. The 2022 Tufted Titmouse (#18) marks the hand-off from Edythe Kegrize to Emma Leturgez-Smith — the last piece designed (if not sculpted) by Kegrize, and the first sculpted entirely by her successor. Collectors who know this story see a meaningful continuity in the series.
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04Display in a chronological sequence. Twenty-one years of North American birds, displayed in order from 2005 through 2025, is a genuinely impressive collection. Each bird tells its own story, and seeing them in sequence traces both the series' aesthetic evolution and twenty years of birdwatcher celebration.
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05Keep the dangling charms intact. Each bird carries a small natural element — a pine cone, a flower, a branch — that dangles beneath it. These elements are both fragile and essential to the ornament's character. Handle carefully and store with the box to prevent tangles and breakage.
All 21 Birds — 2005 to 2025
Every species. Every gem. Every small gift of nature. Click any bird to shop.
Twenty-one years. Twenty-one birds. Every one carrying something — a pine cone, a sprig of holly, a flower stem — as if bringing a gift.
Some series count down to an end. This one just keeps finding new birds worth honoring.
✦ Part of our Series: Hallmark Keepsake Official Series, Explored ✦