Vermont Artist Studies Birds, Carves Lifelike Decoys

Gary Starr has been carving birds for more than 50 years.  He learned at the knee of his father, George Starr, a master collector and carver of decoys. Though mostly mostly decorative, Starr’s decoys faithfully capture the essence of each of the nearly 70 species in his collection. In addition to scale models, Starr also carves hundreds of ornaments every year.  In 2007, a pair of his cardinal ornaments graced the White House. Starr shows VPR’s Jane Lindholm around his studio, and explains how he turns a block of wood into a bird designed to look like a living breathing member of its species.