Each guitar brand has a signature. Gibson has the "open book" headstock, Fender has pastel colors, PRS has the bird inlays. You'd be forgiven for thinking that this was the result of tirelessly working on ideas to help the new brand stand out from the crowd. But, in reality, the ornate inlays happened somewhat by chance. Way back in 1976 - that's right, the birds pre-date the official launch of PRS - Paul was working on a guitar for Peter Frampton and just happened to pick birds for the inlays, and well, the rest is history.
In case you were wondering, the birds featured on the fretboard are a peregrine falcon, marsh hawk, ruby-throated hummingbird, common tern, coopers hawk, kite, sparrow, storm petrel, hawk landing, and a screech owl on a branch.