Will Kirkpatrick's Decoy Shop

1. Martha's Tucket Tern - 9" long, lightly distressed. $90.00 (Item #79) DISCONTINUED
   These birds fold their slim wings outside of their side feathers. It is a difficult attitude to portray using customary decoy making methods. Will borrowed a technique unique to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard shorebird makers wings on to the body.

Some things defy categorization. Sometimes it is easier to say what things are not, rather than what things are. These birds are not game birds, are not song birds, are not ducks, and are not especially pretty, but they are fascinating. While not used as decoys in the traditional way, each has its own unique story.

1. Harbor Gull - 12-3/4" long, glass eyes ,distressed patina. $130.00 (Item #90) DISCONTINUED
   Gunners have never hunted gulls, but gull decoys were used as confidence birds in theirs. This seagull displays the influence of the great decoy carver folk artist, Gus Wilson (1864-1950) of Portland, Main. 12-3/4" long, glass eyes, distressed patina.
2. Standing Puffin - 11" long, Glass eyes, distressed patina. $90.00 (Item #52) DISCONTINUED
   Until the close of the nineteenth century, puffins nesting on many Gulf of Maine islands were easy prey for gulls and men. By the 1960's, only two breeding colonies remained. Ornithologists, alarmed by the decimation of these likable "sea parrots" used decoys and calls to help reestablish a breeding colony on Eastern Egg Island off Boothbay Harbor. Will's are carved and painted in the traditional style of downeast Maine sea duck decoys.
3. Swimming Puffin, 12" long, glass eyes, distressed patina. $180.00 (Item #53) DISCONTINUED
   Until the close of the nineteenth century, puffins nesting on many Gulf of Maine islands were easy prey for gulls and men. By the 1960's, only two breeding colonies remained. Ornithologists, alarmed by the decimation of these likable "sea parrots" used decoys and calls to help reestablish a breeding colony on Eastern Egg Island off Boothbay Harbor. Will's are carved and painted in the traditional style of downeast Maine sea duck decoys.
4. Oyster Catcher - 13" long carved tail, carved hardwood glass eyes, distressed patina. $120.00 (Item #91) DISCONTINUED
   These distinctive looking shorebirds feed on oysters. They open them by inserting their thin bills to snip the muscle that closes the shed. Young birds are not born the instinct, but must learn it from their parents.
5. Sippican Tern - 15-1/2" long, glass eyes, and undistressed patina. $100.00 (Item #88) DISCONTINUED
   The Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife is working to reestablish colonies of roseate terns on Ram's Island in Sippican Harbor, Buzzards Bay Cod. Biologists appealed to carvers for decoys to attract potential breeders. Will donated 20 birds to the project.

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