A life list poster as a gift for a birder
A poster made from the birder’s own eBird list is a gift about their birds, not about birds in general. It needs one thing from them: a file. Here is how to get it, what to print, and what you have afterwards.
Getting the file without spoiling it
Almost every birder who uses eBird can download their life list in about a minute. You do not need their password and should not ask for it. Ask them to send you the file instead.
If you want it to stay a surprise, a plain request works: “Can you send me that eBird CSV, the one with your life list?” Most birders know exactly which file you mean. If they ask why, “I want to see something with it” is true.
If they have never downloaded it, send them the steps. They need to open My eBird, go to Sightings Lists, and download the list.
A world life list is the usual choice. If the birder cares more about a place, such as their home state, a regional list from the same page makes a poster for that place.
Which size to print
Pick the largest sheet the wall or the frame will take. The poster is laid out the same way at every size, so a bigger sheet simply means bigger type. 11×14 inches and A3 suit a desk or a narrow wall; 18×24 inches and A2 suit a hallway; 24×36 inches and A1 are posters you read from across a room.
On the preview, the note under the controls gives the size of the names in points for the sheet you chose, and you can change the sheet and watch it change. A very long list runs onto a second sheet, and the page says so.
Which palette
Field Notebook is the default: cream paper, dark brown ink. Museum is a dark sheet and only prints well at a print shop. Dawn is a pale blue-grey. White is for printing at home, because a home printer cannot print a cream or dark field edge to edge.
What you have afterwards
The PDF is an ordinary file. It is made on your computer from the birder’s list and saved to your downloads. Keep it, print it again next year, or send it to a print shop. The fonts are inside the file, so it looks the same on any printer. If you take the file to a print shop, use the print-shop version: it adds bleed (paper colour that runs past the trim line) and crop marks, which a shop needs for a poster whose colour runs to the edge of the sheet.
The licence is for personal use, which includes printing a copy for someone as a gift. The terms are short.
The price
The preview and a share image are free. The print-ready PDF is $19, one payment, in every size and palette for that list.