Cooper’s Hawk – Wood Sculpture

This Cooper’s Hawk, as they are in nature, is not distinctively different in appearance from the Sharp-Shinned Hawk. The biggest difference between the two is perhaps their respective size, but since this replica is done at half scale, that factor cannot be weighed in the final determination. Either are beautiful birds with the sleek line of a racing car, which drew me to want to do this presentation. This was accomplished by carving it from the fork in a hickory tree branch. Hickory wood is fraught with many “flecks” or remnants of twigs that have become entrapped in the wood as the tree grew. I regard these variations as “proof” marks in the final work. Hickory is generally regarded as the “hardest” (densest) of native American woods and as with all dense woods, this feature lends itself well to accomplishing delicately detailed wood sculpture. In this case, it supplies the necessary strength to carry the bird standing on his own two legs (albeit a thin web of wood joining the legs on the underside of the body). I have used wood stain to provide the differences in tone to the bird’s more prominent coloring rather than using the more stark definition accomplished with paint which would mask the reality of wood entirely.

Measures 8″h x 3″d x 9″l