Prey Taxidermy

02/07/2025

Sometimes I forget that my life is weird. Then, I get to work and open the fridge to find the coffee creamer.

*This is a protected Northern Harrier Hawk (first year, female) will be going to a museum who has the proper possession permits.
**Sometimes the refrigerator is used as a temporary drying stage. It’s safe.
***No, I’m not worried about bird flu with this behavior. The specimen was frozen for a year and is cleaner than any rotisserie chicken. Also I’m not eating it.

01/16/2025

It’s hard to know what to say in the midst of all this fear and chaos in Los Angeles. So, I’ve mostly been listening instead.

But, if I had any wisdom to impart, it would be taken from my craft; taxidermy itself is creation from destruction. That’s what I see on my workbench every day and what I know my fellow Angelinos can do.

It doesn’t mean we can replace what is lost. We can’t. Not any more than I can bring this Peregrine back to life. But we can use the pieces and create something new.

For now, Prey Taxidermy is safe and our wonderful staff, apprentices and volunteers are all doing ok. Our shop dog Howdy continues to complain at nothing.
Sadly, we have lost two of the educational centers we service to the fires. And, have had many many friends, students and colleagues lose their homes to the fires.
We are looking forward to helping to fundraise, rebuild and help in any way we can. In the meantime, we’re back at work and trying to focus while the fire app beeps in the background.

Stay safe!

01/03/2025

The bird that launched a thousand classes.

Photo 1- Doing some work at my alma mater, , where I learned bird taxidermy under the great Tim Bovard. The bird I’m holding is one I did many, many years ago when I was just learning birds at the museum.
Why is it special? Because it’s the FIRST bird where the process really clicked for me. It’s a juvenile and so I chose a ‘begging’ pose. I still think I really captured it! I also just loved working on the European Starling species in general.
I thought ‘I wish I had started with a Starling!’ And so, my students today do in our Birds 101 course. They start where the magic happened for me. And each time, with each student, I get to re-live it. (Next course in February)

Photo 2- I’m installing European Starlings in the newly opened diorama hall (!!!!) for the exhibit ‘Reframing Dioramas’. My team at and I mounted these for the museum as part of the exhibit. Most importantly, I had the honor of working under my mentor Tim Bovard at the museum again.
Installing European Starlings that were created at Prey by my team felt like things coming full circle. I’m so proud of .pajaro for their incredible work.

Photo 3- Me shamelessly plugging You guys always ask where my team and I get my jumpsuits. Do they pay us ? No. Do we get a deal? No. Am I hoping that blatantly sharing this will get us in touch? Absolutely. There are few things in life that I’ll wh*re myself for but sturdy work gear that makes me look like Ripley from Alien is one.

I will definitely be doing a future post on the re-opening of this diorama hall and the incredible exhibit that has made it possible. It’s been closed since the 1990s! Please go to and see it yourself. I’m talking Pangolins, Painted Dogs and modern art in dioramas.
More to come!

01/02/2025

Cockatiel taxidermy class with Allis Markham posted! A truly rare course offering.

For students who have taken Birds 101 at , I’m going to be teaching a more advanced birds course using salvaged Cockatiels. The course is posted on the site now and space is very limited because we’ll have a smaller class size.

If you are looking for the next step in refining your bird taxidermy skills, this is it. We will truly maximize our time to develop posing and grooming skills. Reading references and discussions of physiology will be a major part of this course.

Students will work with me before class to decide base & pose goals by email or phone. Yes, you may do in-flight poses!
On class weekend, we will be starting with fully-prepped specimens that are in great mounting condition. Essentially bypassing day 1 of Birds 101 and going directly to mounting, posing & grooming.

All students will go home with their completed Cockatiel, a finishing-work & grooming kit, and my ‘Posing, Grooming & Reference Reading Guide’ created by me. Students will also be offered a future Zoom session with me for finishing work and critique.

Students must have graduated Birds 101 at Prey to sign up OR be enrolled in a Birds 101 course (there is one up) prior to this class date. Other bird taxidermy experience may apply if you email us and submit photos of your independent bird work; please no pieces from other taxidermy courses.

I hope to have my bird nerds there! This is going to be the class where I get to work closely with you to help you create your vision, tackle your personal challenges and see your skills as a taxidermist truly shine.

(All specimens collected from independent breeders or pet stores and passed of natural or unavoidable causes.)

01/01/2025

Working on salvaged specimens is its own art. You learn to put multiple specimens together to make one good one. I call these ‘Franken-birds’.

This is a Monk Parakeet built from THREE separate specimens. One had a good tail, one had a good back /wings / top of head and the third one had a good belly / chest / chin.
There’s no guide for exactly how to do any of this, so you find yourself using techniques from mammals, other crafts, or simply just inventing things. It’s all ‘smoke & mirrors’. What matters is that the final product is biologically accurate, structurally sound and not attractive to pests. The big 3.

Not every experiment like this turns out and none are perfect. But, even single specimens that passed in great condition can turn out poorly. It’s all about how much practice, planning and effort you’re willing to put in. (Having said that, I’ve had some great failures that I blame on angering the taxidermy gods.)

So, 2024 was a tough year for me. Maybe the toughest- and that’s saying something. I had a lot of things in my life torn apart. Rotted. The details don’t matter. But, I’m hoping that this year I can take the pieces and with proper practice, planning and effort make something beautiful.

To my friends, para-social friends and others - thanks for your patience on my lack of communication. I’m feeling more like me and hope to be more present.

birdtaxidermy

11/06/2024

If you’re having a hard time today,it’s important to take a look at all the beauty in your life and in the world. Not only can that improve your mood, but it can energize you about what to protect and work towards. It can also give you perspective about the people you love who may have different views and beliefs that you. The real enemy is division and hate.

PS I’m posting some of my favorite things without context because it feels more personal that way.

11/01/2024

What’s the go-to Halloween costume for a vintage-style bird taxidermist? Tippi Hedren from Hitchcock’s The Birds of course.
If you could use taxidermy in any costume what would it be?

07/11/2024

Upcoming class! We have a few spots left in our July 20th Red Fox & Coyote class - including open mouth! We won’t be having another mammal course until late fall and then early 2025.

Did we mention that we were just featured in Smithsonian Magazine? More on that soon!

Here are some in-process photos of our April class with our diligent students working hard on their taxidermy skills.

You can learn more by visiting my profile.

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05/17/2024

Introducing “Flock You” Fridays! In this blog series, we here at take a fun look at some aspects of taxidermy (or taxidermy-adjacent topics) that ruffle our feathers. We dispel misinformation and educate you along the way!⁣
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Our introductory blog, “Flock You, Borax” is written by .pajaro and discusses the reasons behind not using Borax as a key preservative on mammal skins. We’ll also give you information about the proper way to tan a pelt so it will last for years.⁣
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Let us know if there’s some s**t that really gets your Gopher!⁣
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Check out the post on our website — www.preytaxidermy.com/blog — and let us know your thoughts!

05/15/2024

Hey, it’s one of our favorite people, Tim Bovard from the NHMLA, profiled by ! 👏⁣
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Tim is ’s mentor, and he’ll be joining us as an instructor in our Wrapped Body Red Fox⁣ class this October (more info on our website). 🦊 We feel so fortunate to have him co-teach some of our advanced classes!⁣
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Check the Iink in our IG profile to learn all about North America’s last remaining full-time museum taxidermist — and then come learn all about taxidermy from Tim himself in October.⁣
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For our students who have taken a class with Tim, do you have any favorite memories (Tim-ories?) of this taxidermy legend?⁣
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(📷 credit: James Bartlett)⁣
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05/10/2024

Taxidermy made it to HBO 😂 Taxidermy.net was highlighted on HBO on the John Oliver show! The segment is at 55 second in. Too funny!

https://youtu.be/42xZB80sZaI?si=Eqj11jQTrHbh7bJ9

John Oliver explains why public libraries are under attack, where those challenges are coming from, and how you really spell “Berenstain." Trust us, it’s not...

03/12/2024

Taxidermy curious or looking to learn more about museum taxidermy? Come to our Taxidermy Lab 101 evening event. Raffle for $200 off any future taxidermy course! - https://mailchi.mp/0e65d5f9a2d5/finally-prey-taxidermy-merch-5445862

02/02/2024

Mammal class graduates! So proud of all our students from the 2-day beginning mammals course. Our students made fantastic Raccoons and took home lots of resources for their own creations. This was a truly wonderful group of humans and I hope to see them back at Prey for another workshop. And, we can’t wait to see what they create!

If you are looking for upcoming classes, look at our classes page on the net. We just posted a Red Fox course for graduates of our beginning mammals courses. We also have two sudden openings for Birds 101 next weekend — AND graduates of Bird 101 can take Quail in March with my mentor, Tim Bovard of The Natural History Museum.

Lots of courses and events coming up. We’re so honored to be bringing people into the world of museum taxidermy and our truly unique community here at Prey.

*If we didn’t post your photo from class it’s only because we didn’t hear from you about permission. We loved you all!

01/16/2024

I’ve just realized that in March I have been teaching Birds 101 for exactly a decade! So much has changed in that time. Overall, the traditional taxidermy methods remain, but my techniques and skills to teach it have certainly evolved. Not to mention the studio space!

I look back on that first class and am still very proud of it. And, my students’ work has always been a great source of pride for me. But, I won’t deny that I’m especially proud to how the curriculum and class structure have developed lately.

We now have a large monitor for students to watch each demo magnified, diagrams for anatomy and wiring, a large crew of Prey staff to assist students, a pdf of detailed step-by-step instructions and some of my favorite grooming tools to take home.

Aaaand I’m proud to announce that Prey is now providing our class graduates with gorgeous Victorian-style certificates of achievement for each class they complete. Each one is printed on fine linen paper and is adorned with our Prey Taxidermy wax seal. We know these stunning certificates will be displayed with great pride.

(Previous students will get the opportunity to purchase them for their completed courses soon.)

We do have a Birds 101 coming up in February with a few open spots. It may be our last one until the summer. I hope to see some new faces in class. It’s near Valentine’s Day; fall in love with taxidermy like I did so long ago.

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