I have been thinking long and hard and have decided to enter into my first amateur competition in Iowa. I am thinking about entering a pair of Ringed Teal that an exotic bird raiser gave me. I have yet to mount them, but am wondering if the majority of enteries use the real or artificial eyelids to make the mount as real as possible. I have always done my birds with the original lids, but I thought I might need something a little more for competition. Also, if you could tell me some of the basics that judges look for in a piece, that would be helpful also. Thanks for your help, Dana
Return to Bird Taxidermy Category Menu
Someone with more experience hopefully will answer, as I have not competed myself yet either, but I would think that if you enter amateur you don't need to concern yourself with eyerings unless you have a woodie or similar duck with large fleshy rings, Ringed teal do not have eye rings so I think your just referring to rebuilding the eye lid a bit..? I wouldn't think that would be necessary..
Just try to do the best mount that you can with a bird that you are good at, do a simple pose, preen it well and make sure the eyes are clean, use quality products - eyes, beak and mannekin, inject the feet well etc...
I will be competing myself soon and the point to competing at MY level of experience anyway, is to learn and get better, not to win ribbons
Good luck
TJ
Here are a few things I have learned and I hope this helps you out.
1. Control shrinkage (especially legs)
2. The bird needs to be anatomically correct (all feather tracts in proper place, correct profile shapes, etc)
3. The bird needs to have secure wing, feet, neck, tail, and head attachment
4. Cleanliness of the mount (the bird should be spotless, especially the eyes, bill, and feet)
5. You can get extra points for using parts that you made yourself (mannikin, art. head, cast feet). If you do make a part yourself, document it with photos for the judges and make sure the part is as good or better than a store bought part.
6. Symmetry.
These are just a few of the "biggies" that judges look at. I'm sure someone can add something. As far as the eyelids, if you can rebuild the eyelid to the correct shape, texture, and thickness, go for it. If you can't, leave it off as you'll probably get docked points either way.
As you know, I don't compete anyway, but here's a little dark secret that you need to learn quickly.
James' rule #6: Symmetry. This is particularly critical and probably foils more ribbons than anything else. We know birds in nature are seldom perfect mirrored images of themselves, but for a competition piece, it's just one of the rules. That rule has been beaten repeatedly by taxidermists who understand that ASSYMMETRY wins ribbons. Look at your best bird winners. Standing on one leg, preening a wing with the head down and the tail off to the side. There is no centerline by which to judge. It's like an open winged bird. Never open those wings if you don't want the judge to see how perfect they are.
...us judges call it BALANCE.
Dana, after all this good advice, let me add this. Make them look as convincing and real, alive, as possible. Have fun, too!