Junco Bird Preservation

This is a male Slate-colored Junco which is a type of Dark-eyed Junco. It was found already dead outside a store beneath one of their large front windows. The very tip of the lower part of the beak has been chipped to to his impact with the glass.

These are a few pictures of the process I go through to preserve birds. Usually, I just take off the wings and pour some Borax over them but I was inspired by my pheasant pelt I bought a little while back and wanted to see if I could do a bird pelt too.

The first picture is the Junco by my skinning tool of choice for something this small, an X-Acto knife.

The second picture is after I cut down the length of the belly, and around the legs. I have taken the skin and wings and pinned it out in the position I want it to dry in (the bird's skull has been left within the head since I want my possible pelt to have a beak). The tail separated from the body during the skinning process because of the delicate nature of the skin. It too has been fanned out in a pose that shows off the flashy white side feathers of the Junco and will be reattached later on.

And the last picture shows how much Borax I used and what areas I like to cover.

Any questions, feel free to ask.


Disclaimer: I did not kill this animal! If you do not like what you see, don't look at it! Also, don't bother wasting your time leaving rude or pointless comments here, they will be ignored.