Tea, if you are a bit ill at ease with your skills to make the birds, it is OK to look about, try some different techniques and patterns before you dive in. In the end you may be more pleased with you effort to honor our son with a bird quilt.
I would recommend that you take a peek at Pat Sloan's Face book page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/QuiltWithPatSloan/ She has a simple bird pattern that other quilters used and recreated to reflect other than blue birds. Scroll through the photos to find robins, blue jays, Baltimore orioles, gold finch and on and on. Just an idea.