When the Museum needed a unique mount for its Wandering Albatross skeleton it turned to nationally-renowned mounting expert Terry Brown, of Museum Professionals, Inc . A mount must display a specimen so that it can be seen by visitors and at the same time be protected from dust, UV light, heat, bugs, etc. But we had some additional requirements. Fortunately, Terry was already helping us on the Hageboeck Hall of Birds project.
Bird skeletons pose some special mounting problems.
We asked Terry to pose the skeleton in flight, mounted inside a life-size bird model. He is creating a remarkable piece of work. The iron skeleton would serve as a base around which Terry would mold and sculpt the outer shell of the mount. The basic shape of the body was built up with blocks of foam. Short steel rods welded to the major supporting bars provide support for the wire mesh he will add to form the wings' surface.