The Yellow Warbler

***Warning: This post contains pictures of a dead bird, though nothing bloody, gory, or graphic.***

Last May a tiny yellow bird (we think it was a yellow warbler) flew headlong into my friend Melissa's sliding glass doors and fell down dead.  Melissa contacted me immediately to ask if I wanted it and of course I said yes (and thank you, Melissa!)

Sitting in a box of borax

For very small animals like insects, mice, and tiny birds, you can desiccate the entire body, whole, in borax, without first cutting it open or stuffing it, so that's what I did.  I left this bird in borax for about two months, periodically changing the borax and checking to make sure there was no rotting or other problems.  The borax dries and deodorizes the bird while also killing any tiny mites or other things that might be in its feathers.

This week I took out the bird and carefully cleaned and brushed it off to remove any borax or dirt from its feathers.  The process of drying the bird also removes its eyes, so I replaced them with tiny glass eyes from a taxidermy supply store.  Then I had to very, very carefully spread open its toes so it could "grasp" the piece of wood I mounted it on.

New eyes

This was my first time preserving a whole animal (vs. just bones) but of course drying something is much, much easier than taxidermy.  I'm planning on signing up for a taxidermy class soon to learn how to stuff and mount larger animals.  In fact, the class is taught by a friend of a friend who is also the taxidermist for the Natural History Museum, so it should be very interesting.