Backyard Birds

They say that every cloud has a silver lining. COVID-19 has certainly been quite a cloud. It’s caused sickness and death, created economic distress, forced the cancellation of many events (including carving shows), and forced people to stay out of physical contact with friends and loved ones.
But at least it made people appreciate birds more. Because of the pandemic, many people—forced to self-quarantine in their homes—have taken a renewed interest in the feathered creatures that visit their bird feeders and flit about the house and yard. “Bird-watching has surged in popularity during the pandemic,” said an article in the New York Times last May. According to the owner of a bird supply store in Maine, “There is definitely a craving for engagement with nature, especially considering how limited our ability to move is right now.” The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which has an online site where people can report their avian observations, had a record 6,479 different species logged on May 9 last year.
With that in mind, we decided this was a perfect time to repackage what we consider our “backyard birds’ greatest hits.” These articles, by some of the world’s top carvers, will show you how to carve and paint the very birds you see perched on your feeder in the morning. You’ll get carving and painting instructions for the blue jay, Northern cardinal, Baltimore oriole, rose-breasted grosbeak, and more.