BIRD TAXIDERMY

TIPS ON BIRD
ANATOMY
HEADS & NECKS
by Mike Vernelson

ONE OF THE MANY DILEMMAS I'M CONSTANTLY
trying to conquer while I'm outdoors or in the shop studying reference is how to build a more anatomically correct bird mount. When we all started mounting birds, our mission was to be able to create a clean, well-groomed mount that looked like something a client might want to take home and call his own. As we progress, however, we try to find an edge that makes our work look a little better than the other guy's, whether for business or competing at shows. Building an anatomically correct model with a mannikin for reference is good for learning wing position, etc., but still leaves a lot of room for error as far as body shape is concerned. I live by a motto I came up with that says, "You'll never be able to do it as good as the bird can himself, so you must improvise." The translation of this is that if you want to mount a quail resting on a branch that looks like he had a softball for lunch, then you must do some things differently than the conventional ways you have learned or been taught. In many cases, a rigid mannikin for a standing bird is something with a basic bird shape, that I need for anchoring wires.

The quail pictured here was mounted with 50 percent foam mannikin and 50 percent cotton batting. The mannikin is basically surrounded by cotton. Do we care how the bird looks underneath the skin? Of course not, what we care about is the finished product. That's how we improvise. To produce an almost perfect (perfect being a live bird), anatomically correct bird mount, you must treat each bird as its own project that requires planning and experimentation with different techniques and processes. Once you figure out how to accomplish these, then eventually they will come to you naturally with less thought and frustration.

With all of this in mind, I'm focusing this article on heads and necks, using a few different birds for demonstration...

...Continued in the Winter 2001 Issue of Breakthrough.

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