Most of the human figures are depicted as having birds' heads with pronounced beaks.
Some figures also have short pointed animal ears.
The practice of distorting the human face may have arisen from the growing asceticism among the Ashkenazi Jews of the period, and their strict observance of the biblical prohibition of creating graven images. The Birds' Head Haggadah is the earliest Ashkenazi illuminated Haggadah to have survived as a separate book. It is richly illustrated in the margins with biblical, ritual and eschatological scenes.