About This Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service® celebrates ten melodic voices with the Songbirds stamps: the western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), the mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides), the western tanager (Piranga ludoviciana), the painted bunting (Passerina ciris), the Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula), the evening grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus), the scarlet tanager (Piranga olivacea), the rose-breasted grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus), the American goldfinch (Spinus tristis), and the white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis).
Each colorful bird is shown perching on a fence post or branch embellished with vines, pinecones, leaves, or flowers. The artwork appears against a plain, white background.
Why do songbirds make such a glorious racket every morning? In a word, love. Males sing to attract females, and to warn rivals to keep out of their territory. Between 4,000 and 4,500 different types of songbirds can be found around the planet, accounting for nearly half of all bird species. Songbirds are identified by their highly developed vocal organs, although some, like the crow, have harsh voices, and others sing rarely, or not at all. All songbirds are classified as perching birds. With three toes that point forward and one that points backward, they can grip branches, grasses, or telephone wires with ease.
Illustrator Robert Giusti painted the portraits, based on photographs. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamps.
Songbirds will be issued as Forever® stamps in booklets of 20. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce rate.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Derry Noyes
For more than 40 years Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for close to 800 United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.
Noyes worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by American Illustration, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, Graphis, Creativity International, and the Society of Illustrators.
Before becoming an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981 to 1983.
Noyes is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Stamp Artist
Robert Giusti
Born in Switzerland and raised in New York City, Robert Giusti studied painting, sculpture, and graphics at the Tyler School of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. The son of a graphic designer, Giusti grew up in an environment where expression of creativity was highly encouraged — the perfect atmosphere for a budding artist.
Giusti returned to New York after finishing school, finding success in the art world there. He began to work in advertising and publishing before setting out as a freelance illustrator and designer, gaining acclaim for his unique style. Some of the clients he has worked with throughout his career include United Airlines, Columbia Records, The New York Times, ExxonMobil, NBC, and TIME.
Since childhood, Giusti has had a fascination with animals, enamored with their simple, honest beauty that lends itself to imaginative recreations. His portfolio of stamps created for the U.S. Postal Service features an array of colorful wildlife. His love for abstract paintings and concepts has remained steadfast through the years.
Currently, Giusti is illustrating covers for Der Spiegel magazine, as well as their children's publications. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, winning him silver and gold medals from the Society of Illustrators, among many others.
Giusti lives in Bridgewater, Connecticut, with his wife, Grace, and their two dogs, Lupo and Baci. Songbirds in Snow (2016), Songbirds (2014), and Tufted Puffins (2013) are his most recent projects for the Postal Service. Other designs by Giusti include Cardinal (1991), Wild Animals (1992), Tropical Birds (1998), and Red Fox (1999).