[NHCOLL-L:721] RE: How do I stand up bird taxidermy mounts?

[Bob Glotzhober]

Here is an alternative that we use, which may or may not work in your
situation.  I believe it is safe for most mounts.

I hestiate to bend and rebend leg wire again and again as they are moved to
different mounts.  Once a wire breaks off -- you've got nothing.  So instead
of putting wires into foam or some temporary mounting board, we tie a string
to the leg wires and hang them from the ceiling in our small storage room
for mounted animals.  A few hang from hooks on pegboard on a wall, but that
is not as good as unless the hook is long, they hang against the wall which
could flatten the feathers.  I've had no problems with those hanging upside
down that do not touch anything else.   I'd be interested  in hearing if
anyone can forsee any problems with this method that I have not thought of.

===========================================
Robert C. Glotzhober		bglotzhober at ohiohistory.org
Curator of Natural History		phone  614 297-2633
Ohio Historical Society		fax       614 297-2233
1982 Velma Avenue
Columbus  OH  43211-2497

Visit the Web Site of the Ohio Historical Society at
http://www.ohiohistory.org/

See our "Curators Curiosities" web page at
http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/collect/curator/index.html

Visit the Web Page of the Ohio Odonata Society (dragonflies & damselflies)
at
   http://mcnet.marietta.edu/~odonata/index.html


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	bhager at dmnhnet.org [SMTP:bhager at dmnhnet.org]
> Sent:	Wednesday, September 13, 2000 4:40 PM
> To:	NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
> Subject:	[NHCOLL-L:716] How do I stand up bird taxidermy mounts?
> 
> I am working on improving the storage of our bird taxidermy mount
> collection.  Some of the birds have no bases so I am trying to construct
> some and other have wood bases and was trying to find an alternative.
> Since
> they have wire sticking out of the bottoms of their feet (and I am
> thinking
> about birds like ducks, geese, hawks, eagles, etc)I need a base that is
> conservation friendly and can support the weight of the bird.  Ethafoam
> plank is good but too lightweight to support birds of these sizes.  Does
> anyone know of a way to increase the support of an ethaform plank base or
> an
> alternate product to use.
> 
> Britney Hager
> Collections Manager
> Dallas Museum of Natural History
> 3535 Grand Ave
> Dallas  TX  75210
> (214)421-3466 Ext. 205
> bhager at dmnhnet.org