Feather & Down Taxidermy
RR#4 K0K 2T0 Picton, ON, Canada

A drake wood duck finished up in the last few days.

And again, another wood duck that went home today.

Another wood duck finished up ready to head home.

Another wood duck finished up.

A drake wood duck that went home today.

Here is something a little different ... a pair of ruddy ducks, a mature drake swimming over a juvenile hen who is diving. The red plumage of a drake ruddy is only seen in the summer ... we don't usually see the red plumage in our fall season ... the mature drakes still have the solid white cheeks though.

Another flying old squaw finished up in the last few days.

Here is a swimming greater scaup (bluebill) finished up in the last couple days.

Here is a swimming wall mount old squaw finished up recently.

Duck Plumage: Gadwall The gadwall is one of our lesser known puddle ducks, some call them a grey duck since they have alot of grey plumage. The gadwall is the... only puddle duck with a white wing speculum, this is a way to identify young or hens from other puddle ducks. Mature drake gadwall plume in as early as halloween ... the fresh specimen in the pictures was taken on November 5th a few years ago. Young gadwall take a long time to get in plumage, but these ducks will stay to freeze up, often being seen here until the end of the season in January. There is variation in their plumage. The red in the forewing is characteristic of them. although some have very little red ... young birds tend to have less red then old ones. The pattern in the breast can vary in colour from very grey to almost brown. Head shape and colour can vary as well ... they tend to have quite a box shaped top of the head, but not always. The coolest colour variation is the purple that can be seen in the head. Some of the pictures show a little purple in the head, some do not have any at all ... I have seen pics of gadwall that have as much purple in the head as a wigeon has green, but I have not seen one in person yet with that much. A sign of age on drake gadwall are the long grey tertial feathers, the long wing feathers close to the body ... the length of the brown scapular feathers that lay on the back are also a sign of age. I have also seen pictures of gadwall that have a white or black ring around the neck in a similar position to the mallards ... I have not seen one like this in person, only in pictures. The neck rings or purple in the head are genetic traits, it does not signify age, they are just characteristic of the specemen. To identify a nice gadwall to mount, check the top line of the sidepocket and the brown feathers of the back for pin feathers ... if these areas are free of pin feathers, it should be a good bird for mounting.

Duck Plumage: Drake Mallard - I will start with what seems to confuse the most ... the curl feathers: Drake mallards have two large curls in the centre of the... tail ... what many do not realize is these two curls are made from 4 feathers. A duck is symmetrical, and each curl is made from two nested feathers, one from each side of the duck ... so if you think your mallard has 4 curl feathers, that is good, it should have, but if the feathers are properly formed, the 4 feathers will make two curls when the duck grooms them properly. In the first two pics below, I showed the tail feathers properly groomed, then I separated the curls to show there are actually 4 feathers there. Mallards are early to mid season to get full plumage. The duck in the pics was shot this morning, October 5th, and is not bad for the time of year, but he is still only about 80% molted and still has pin feathers in the scapulars, sidepocket, head and neck. We start to see a number of mature drakes getting all their feathers about halloween, but the best plumage for mounting is late November and December birds when the down if fullest. The age of a drake mallard can be seen by the tertial feathers ... these are the large broad feathers shown in the third picture ... they are the wing feathers that are closest to the body of the bird. These feathers get longer and broader as the bird gets older, and they are pointed on mature birds, but are shorter and rounded at the tip on young birds. The scapular feathers are the silver feathers of the back that extend from the shoulder (shown in pic 4) ... they also have an umber edge along the bottom ... these feathers also get longer with age. Drake mallards can have great variations in their colour ... the backs can be from silver to brown, the tails can be from white to almost black, the white line around the neck varies in thickness and the chestnut of the breast can have light edges or no edges at all ... mallards are one of the most diverse coloured ducks. Size can also vary greatly from about 2.5lb, up to and over 4lb.

A gadwall finished up in the last couple days.

Here is a post I try to bump up each year ... it shows how I like to have by birds frozen for taxidermy purposes ... compact the bird as much as possible to protect from damage in the freezer.

Here is a pair of mallards under glass ... a nice mature pair.

This post shows what to look for on prime wood duck specimens for mounting ... I made this a few years ago and try to bump it up each year.

And for something a little different. my guess on this duck is a second generation hybrid ... that is ... it looks like a back-cross of a black/mallard hybrid with a mallard ... so 3/4 mallard, and 1/4 black. The can get some different feather patterns when they cross, not always the same. This is a heavy bird taken late in the season. I like the pattern shown on the tail feathers.

And for something a little different. my guess on this duck is a second generation hybrid ... that is ... it looks like a back-cross of a black/mallard hybrid with a mallard ... so 3/4 mallard, and 1/4 black. The can get some different feather patterns when they cross, not always the same. This is a heavy bird taken late in the season. I like the pattern shown on the tail feathers.

A barred owl finished up in the last few days.

This is a saw-whet owl ... they are a very tiny owl, smaller body size than a robin ... this one took extreme damage when hit by the car, as often happens with little birds ... one side of the skull and eye socket was shattered, and the same side, the body was crushed with torn and missing skin ... almost could not mount it, but continued on to see how it would turn out.

Here is a flying pheasant just finished up in the last few days.

Here are a pair of old squaw finished up in the last few days. These two are for the same client, I place them on separate backings so the client can place them on his wall in an interaction of his choosing rather than having me chose where each is in relation to the other.

Here are a pair of old squaw finished up in the last few days. These two are for the same client, I place them on separate backings so the client can place them on his wall in an interaction of his choosing rather than having me chose where each is in relation to the other.

A drake old squaw finished up in the last few days.

Here is a swimming goldeneye for a wall mount just finished up in the last few days.

Here is a flying greater bluebill finished up recently. This one is actually a juvenile bird, but was shot late enough in the year, and was early enough in his molt to have some colour showing through already.

Here is a flying greater bluebill finished up recently. This one is actually a juvenile bird, but was shot late enough in the year, and was early enough in his molt to have some colour showing through already.

Here is a ruffed grouse finished up in the last few days ... tough little mount considering it was taken through the neck with a .22 ... that is tough damage to fix with their skin being so thin and soft ... it took alot of manipulation to try to hide the missing skin and feathers.

A wood duck for a Michael's glass case finished up in the last few days.

A flying mallard finished up in the last few days.

An old squaw finished up in the last few days. This is one of those stands that sometimes find that can be either wall mounted or also balance well as a table stand ... it can be tough to find driftwood that can be cut to do both.

A canvasback finished up in the last few days.

Here are two wigeon mounts. These two were shot by friends out of the same flock. I got the impression they do not shoot very many wigeon in their area ... these two are pretty good birds. You can see some genetic differences between the two specimens, one has much more green in the head, and they have different head shapes which is a result of the feather lengths being different between the two on the top and back of the heads, it makes the heads look differently shaped, even though the skulls are the same in shape. There are also some subtle differences in the body plumage as well ... nice birds.

A flying old squaw finished up in the last few days.

Here is a once in a lifetime shoot ... a piebald Canada goose that is double banded. As a taxidermist, I really wish it had been found and taken later in the season, being mid October when it was taken, the goose was mostly pin feathers with the head and neck feather length being about half the full growth length ... still a bird worth mounting.

This might be my favorite pose style for an old squaw mount. finished up in the last few days.

As many taxidermists would attest, the head of a hooded merganser often does some wonky crap as the mount dries. This one actually improved a little and stayed up well for such a large crown. Finished up in the last few days.

Here is something a little different ... I have not done a wood duck with a redhead in the same scene before, but I have taken both species in the same hide on the same morning several times, so they are seen together on occasion. These two were taken by the same client in the same season and he supplied the piece of wood to mount them onto, although I had to prop and support the wood in order to secure the mounts in a stable fashion.

A snow goose painted up today.

A little kestrel finished up.