Taxidermy Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella): I had the pleasure of working on this beautiful British bunting.
Unfortunately, the male Yellowhammer got lost in the post for a day, resulting in him fully defrosting and starting to turn.
This is usually game over for small birds, as they start to decompose fairly quick – I didn’t hold out much hope.
Despite soaking in alcohol for a while to toughen the skin and kill bacteria that makes the skin bad and feathers fall out, lots did.
I persevered anyway and did the best I could.
His back was completely bald and he had some secondary feathers missing on one side, which was a great shame.
Painstakingly, I glued as many feathers back as I could, and despite his condition, I’m very happy with how he turned out.
They have a very distinctive call that most birders recognise as sounding like “A little bit of bread with no cheeeeeeeeese”
