Gavin Craig, an 83-year-old man from the Grande Prairie area showcases just some of his lifelong Taxidermy bird collection. Photo Credit: Gavin Craig

By Shane Clausing

Taxidermy bird collection donation

Local taxidermist donates extensive collection to Wembley museum

Dec 2, 2020 | 5:24 PM

Gavin Craig, an 83-year-old man from the Grande Prairie area recently made a generous donation to the museum in Wembley.

This past fall, Craig, a Taxidermist by trade, donated a big chunk of his lifelong collection of taxidermy birds to the museum, which are worth an estimated $250,000.

All of the birds collected by Craig were hand crafted by him.

Craig tells EverythingGP that he got into the trade when he was 16 years old.

“I’ve been working on it since I was 16 and I took a taxidermist course from the Omaha School of Taxidermy and I’ve been doing it ever since,” said Craig.

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“I do it when I get the opportunity and I’ve accumulated quite a lot of stuff. I’ve donated stuff to the College and Park in Grande Prairie.”

Craig says that the trade always interested him, which is why he decided to sign up for a correspondence from a school in Omaha, Nebraska. The reason he chose a school in Omaha was because there weren’t many schools around that taught the trade.

“I was interested in having these things and there was no possible way of paying to get it done because there was very little money around at the time. I figured that if I was going to get anything like this, I was going to have learn how to do it myself.”

So, Craig learned the trade. After 67 years, he’s accumulated and crafted hundreds of taxidermy birds.

Photo Credit: Gavin Craig

Gavin Craig, an 83-year-old man from the Grande Prairie area showcases just some of his lifelong Taxidermy bird collection. Photo Credit: Gavin Craig

Photo Credit: Gavin Craig

Photo Credit: Gavin Craig

According to Craig, the process of making the bird is a very delicate procedure and despite all the changes in technology over the last 67 years, he still does it the way he was taught.

“My way of doing things now are the ways I learned in the lessons, but basically how I do it is almost in the stone age for that kind of stuff.”

“You have to skin the creature, take measurements and keep the wing bones, leg bones and the skull and you have to re-pad them with clay, cotton and string and then you wire them up. You must make a body, then wrap it, make it and put a neck on it and then put the entire thing together.”

The process for a small bird takes about three hours, while a bigger bird like an eagle, can take a good part of the day.

Craig says that the biggest feature of making the bird stand out is the eyes. Without the eyes being good, it doesn’t make the creature look as good as it should be.

“The eyes are the soul of the beast and that’s very important.”

With 67 years of experience under his belt, Craig added that there is one project/bird that is his favorite piece of work.

“The Grouse (bird) is one of my favorites things because they’re easy to obtain and easy to do. Some birds are a lot harder. Magpies are one of the hardest to do, as well as little owls.”

He says that the small birds are tough to do because they have such a small body and little room to work with.

With the donation made to the museum, Craig says that he hopes it can inspire and educated youth who walk by the birds.

“I just want them to see them as they are. There are many birds where you don’t have the opportunity to see them very well. You take a Magpie, and it looks black and white, but it has green and blue on it and most people don’t know that.”