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Bee-eater

Mike Wood shows how to create one of the most exquisitely coloured birds around

Colourful bird with dragonfly in beak on branch.

There are around 25 species within the bee-eater (Meropidae) family, most of which live in Africa and Asia with a few species found in southern Europe, Australia and New Guinea. In June 2017 there was a rare sighting of bee-eaters in the UK when seven birds were spotted at a quarry near Loughborough. Bee-eaters usually breed in southern Europe and Africa, but the effects of climate change mean that more of these birds are moving north and they may become a more common sight in Britain in the future. 

Bee-eaters are very brightly coloured birds, often with brilliant green plumage, although some species have red, yellow, blue or purple feathers. The name Meropidae derives from the ancient Greek word ‘Merops’, which means ‘bee-eater’. Their main source of food is flying insects – bees, wasps and hornets – which they catch in mid-air after observing the prey from their perch. The bee-eater’s beak prevents it from being stung as it kills the insect then removes the stinger by wiping the insect against its perch. Bee-eaters are mentioned in Aristotle’s writings, who advised bee-keepers to kill the birds to protect their hives.

Bee-eaters live in colonies and form monogamous pairs for breeding, with both male and female birds caring for the young. Their nests are burrows which they dig usually into the sides of cliffs, sand banks or on level ground. These burrows can reach up to 3m deep. The nests are vulnerable to attack from rodents and snakes, and the adult birds are preyed on by raptors. Their conservation status is currently categorised as ‘least concern’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

In Hinduism, bee-eaters are associated with archer gods and the Sanskrit name for the birds means ‘Vishnu’s bow’. This association came about because the bee-eater in flight looks like a bow with its beak as the arrow. 

Table of Contents

Things you will need

Tools:
• Personal and respiratory protective equipment
• Bandsaw, coping saw or fretsaw
• Carving knife 
• Rotary power carving unit
• Coarse taper burr
• Medium flame or taper burr
• Bull-nose stone burr
• Round-nose burr
• Fine ruby taper burr
• Drill and drill bit for the feet
• Sanding drum
• Pyrography unit with scalpel nib
• Eyes
• Feet

Materials:
• Jelutong (Dyera costulata)
• Paintbrushes
• Airbrush
• Gesso
• Plastic wood
• PVA glue
• Fine sand
• Abrasives 120-240 grit
• Acrylic colours as per the colour palette shown right
• In addition to the colours shown in the palette, you will need cadmium yellow and cadmium red

Bird colour guide with eight colour swatches.

The body

Wooden bird sculpture on display
1. Start by cutting out your bird blank, leaving just a little bit of extra wood for shaping it later. While finished size isn’t critical, this one is a life-like size, about 250-300mm long. Use the plans provided and scale them up to the size you require. The scrap of wood stuck on the underside helps with keeping the bird stable, allows it to be clamped and is easily removed when not needed
Carved wooden bird sculpture with etched details.
2. Once you have your rough-cut blank, mark out the primary shapes and start shaping it using a knife, gouge or rotary carving unit with a coarse  and medium-grit burr. Once rough-shaped, sand it roughly and then mark in the fine detail such as the feather positions

Feather location and detail

Wood carving tools next to bird sculpture
3. Now you need to create the medium and fine feather detail. I do this with a rotary unit using medium and fine burrs. If you are power carving, remember to wear personal and respiratory protective equipment. Go slowly and check your reference material to make sure you are getting all the key feathers, shape and the textures right. Do the top area first, so you get this section right
Wooden bird sculpture on display
4. Texture the finer detail around the head and refine the shape of the beak. Once done. place some plastic wood into the eye sockets and push the eyes into this. There will be some squeeze-out. Remove the excess and shape the plastic wood as required to create the right shaped surrounding for the eyes. Once the surround is shaped, leave it to set. I buy the eyes. There are many outlets where one can buy such things, including feet for birds etc. 
Carving tools next to a wood-bird sculpture
5. Move on to the underneath areas. Again, look at your reference material and use a combination of a taper and bull-nose burr to create the detail and the softness required. By that I mean the look of the soft, pillowy feathers

Pyrography

Intricately carved wooden bird sculpture
6. Carefully check your reference material and draw in the relevant main feather forms. Use a pyrography unit with a scalpel-type tip to detail the main parts of the feathers, such as the central rachis and outlines. The depth the lines are burnt to needs to be deep enough to show through after the gesso is applied. Cross-check your reference material as some feathers are very prominent and  others are softer and more muted. If you are unsure, practise on some waste material before you commit to burning in detail on your shaped bird
Brown bird camouflaged on a tree branch
7. Continue the marking and burning in until you have done the complete bird. Once done, you need to work out the position and angle of the feet. Once you have that, drill holes in the right position and angle to suit the feet you have bought, I make mine, and then fix them in place with plastic wood. It is best to drill the hole slightly oversized so you get a bit of plastic wood squeeze-out which you can then  shape and texture as required. Then leave it to set

The stand

Taxidermy bird on artistic branch display
8. Part of the process is to create a suitable stand for the bird. This needs to be as naturalistic as possible and also show off the bird to its fullest effect. I felt simple grass/reeds and a branch would work well for this project. How you choose to display the bird is up to you. When displaying birds, it is best to pick something that is pertinent to the bird being carved. It is best to consider and work this out before carving the bird. The position you choose to seat the bird will have a bearing on feet shape and position and also the head position and bird posture

Gesso

Grey crow on a plain background
9. Prior to colouring it is vital that the bird is sealed and prepared properly. Brush over the piece to remove any loose carbon created by the pyrography, then apply a coat of white gesso. You may need to thin down your gesso if you have bought the ready-made variety. The consistency needs to be such that it coats and seals the work and creates a base layer on which the colours will sit, but not be so thick as to fill the pyrographed detail 

Applying colour

10, 11 & 12. You now need to block in the main colours in the following sequence. The colours are clearly labelled in the palette on page 22. The beauty of this richly coloured bird is that there are clearly defined blocks of colour as a starting point.

Colourful paper bird sculpture on wooden base.
10.
Colourful bird from top view, vibrant plumage
11.
Colourful bird sculpture with metal legs
12.

The easiest way of explaining them is as a list.
• The outside beak is black and the inside is red, which is a mixture of cadmium red and a tiny bit of black.
• The throat area is cadmium orange. 
• There is a collar of black around the throat and part of the head. Note in pictures 12 and 13 you can see that it stops on either side of the brownish top section.
• Then comes a fine band of aqua with a delineating band of white.
• The strip running though the eye is black.
• Above the strip of black is an band of aqua which runs over the head and across the other side. Note in picture 11 you can see that the top front of the head is white.
• The top crown of the head, the front shoulder of the wings and the back V-shaped area are a mix of burnt sienna and cadmium orange.
• The middle and lower wing areas are phthalo blue with dark grey feather tips and edges.
• The two angel-type creamy yellow wing areas on its back, as viewed from the top of the bird, are a mixture of cadmium yellow and white.
• The section in the middle of the back below the two cream sections is burnt sienna with a light wash of aqua. 
• The tail feathers are phthalo blue with a wash of aqua over the top middle ones. There is a light edging of dark grey.

Colourful bird figurine with vibrant feathers on display.
13. This image gives an alternative view to be better able to see the coloured areas
Colourful embroidered bird sculpture with open beak
14. Now back to the throat. This is given a light wash of white gesso and then, while still wet, a light brushing of cadmium orange to create the slightly streaked look. The feathers on the shoulders of the wings are edged with a mix of gesso and cadmium orange to create that barred look. The aqua bands are edged with white and the crown of the head and back V-section are dry-brushed with a light wash of cadmium yellow and white gesso
Sculpture of bird wings and claws on display.
15a. The underneath belly area is now dry-brushed with aqua then light streaks of white
Close-up of colourful bird's wing and claws.
15b. The feet are painted dark grey
Colourful bird model perched on branch sculpture.
16. The lower V-section now has a graduated light wash of burnt sienna and pine green
Colourful bird sculpture with dragonfly in beak.
17. The back section abutting the lower neck collar now has a dry-brush of burnt sienna. Note again the graduation of colour down towards the tail section

The stand

The branch for the stand was stripped back a bit and light washes of brown were applied to create the mottled brown effect. The base was coated with PVA then fine sand was applied to create the shingle/stone effect. The grass/reeds were sprayed a light fawn colour and then flecked with a darker colour to give the mottled look.

Red-veined darter dragonfly

18-19. I added one other element, an optional extra so to speak, that has not been mentioned yet and that is a red-veined darter dragonfly held in the bee-eater’s mouth. The body was constructed using a combination of copper-coated steel rod and thin copper wire for the head, body and legs. The various sections were cut and then soldered together, then a coat of gesso was applied and, once dry, it was painted. The wings were created using thin acrylic sheeting. These were cut to shape with a very fine saw. The veining was done with a very fine permanent marker. Then and these were glued in place. I think they finish off the piece nicely.

Colourful bird with dragonfly in beak on branch.
18.
Colourful bird with dragonfly on branch
19.

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