Junkminer
Elite Member
At the urging of Mudpuppy I wanted share a story of my father (Glen Smart) and his lifelong passion and dedication to birds.
His obsession started early. At about 10 years old he found an abandoned nest of Sparrow Hawks and raised the 4 babies until they could fly. At age 14 he took a correspondence coarse through the mail and taught himself bird taxidermy. My Grandmas back porch quickly filled with mounts of all types. In 1963 he started donating mounted birds to Mizzou. He knew the curator of birds at most major zoos as well as private collectors. When a cool duck died they sent it to Dad.the donations continued throughout his life. The school now has one of the largest collections of mounted birds in the world. They also have the worlds largest collection of mounted waterfowl (ducks, geese, and swans). If you're ever in central Missouri feel free to visit the Natural Sciences building on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia and see a small portion of "The Glen Smart Collection" lining the halls in glass cases.
He was an avid duck and goose hunter. Sunrise over the decoys is what he loved. Dad also loved woodcarving makind birds. He made over 2400 and signed, dated, and numbered them all. The carvings are in collections all over the world. In the '70's and early '80's he was one of the judges for the annual World Championship Waterfowl Carving Contest in Salisbury, MD.
In 1963 he began his career with the USFWS working with endangered species, you guessed it, birds! In 1967, he and his boss (Dr. Ray Erickson) flew to Northwest Territoies in Canada and collected Whooping Crane eggs and brought them back to Patuxant Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, MD to begin a captive breeding program. Each pair laid 2 eggs but only one chick survives. They took one egg from each nest. At that time the entire population was 22 birds with 6 breeding pairs. The work continues today. There are over 500 birds now but they are still in trouble. In 2013 a pair of Whooping Cranes stopped by a local lake and spent a couple of weeks. We had the chance to watch them with my daughters (age 9 and 12 at the time). Dad said many times that was one of his proudest moments!
My Dad passed away at 84 in January. After his funeral at the graveside service, the honer guard handed the flag to Mom and the preacher said a final prayer. As we stood to leave, about 250-300 Snow Geese flew over the cemetery. A most appropriate send off, the only thing that would have made it better was if they were Whooping Cranes!
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. Mike
His obsession started early. At about 10 years old he found an abandoned nest of Sparrow Hawks and raised the 4 babies until they could fly. At age 14 he took a correspondence coarse through the mail and taught himself bird taxidermy. My Grandmas back porch quickly filled with mounts of all types. In 1963 he started donating mounted birds to Mizzou. He knew the curator of birds at most major zoos as well as private collectors. When a cool duck died they sent it to Dad.the donations continued throughout his life. The school now has one of the largest collections of mounted birds in the world. They also have the worlds largest collection of mounted waterfowl (ducks, geese, and swans). If you're ever in central Missouri feel free to visit the Natural Sciences building on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia and see a small portion of "The Glen Smart Collection" lining the halls in glass cases.
He was an avid duck and goose hunter. Sunrise over the decoys is what he loved. Dad also loved woodcarving makind birds. He made over 2400 and signed, dated, and numbered them all. The carvings are in collections all over the world. In the '70's and early '80's he was one of the judges for the annual World Championship Waterfowl Carving Contest in Salisbury, MD.
In 1963 he began his career with the USFWS working with endangered species, you guessed it, birds! In 1967, he and his boss (Dr. Ray Erickson) flew to Northwest Territoies in Canada and collected Whooping Crane eggs and brought them back to Patuxant Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, MD to begin a captive breeding program. Each pair laid 2 eggs but only one chick survives. They took one egg from each nest. At that time the entire population was 22 birds with 6 breeding pairs. The work continues today. There are over 500 birds now but they are still in trouble. In 2013 a pair of Whooping Cranes stopped by a local lake and spent a couple of weeks. We had the chance to watch them with my daughters (age 9 and 12 at the time). Dad said many times that was one of his proudest moments!
My Dad passed away at 84 in January. After his funeral at the graveside service, the honer guard handed the flag to Mom and the preacher said a final prayer. As we stood to leave, about 250-300 Snow Geese flew over the cemetery. A most appropriate send off, the only thing that would have made it better was if they were Whooping Cranes!
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. Mike
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