Cormorant

santos

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Bonjour à tous

Here’s a small plate I’ve just engraved for a friend of mine . He’s a fisherman and when the fishing season is off, he shoot the cormorant that become an invasive specie in the south of Europe.
P1180122.jpg
The cormorant fly up to the mountain trout streams and fish easily 500g of trout per day( 5 to 10 fish).During the winter months they are thousands and most of the rivers know their predation.

This plate is made of titanium ( 22,5X47 mm) and will be inlayed in his riffle . Right now I’ve mounted it in my grandson’s airgun.
P1180192.jpg P1180187.jpg
The plate is slightly curved and domed and will follow the curvature of the buttstock
P1180172.jpg
There are a few flowers that are anodized
The bird is B&W engraved in the bulino style as explained in Chris de Camillis' DVD
I don’t like this bird , however I tried to catch his posture , when he’s drying his wings after fishing
P1180178.jpg
Hope you'll like it
Greetings
Jean
 

Brian Marshall

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Having those screws above the surface? Maybe get some flush/countersunk screws?

Next time, since it is titanium (and unless you have access to a laser you cannot put pins on the back)... you can add 4 tabs to the piece when you cut it out - bend them down, and insert them into the wood. Use a chisel the size of the tab to start them in and a rubber mallet to tap into place.

If you want to add security, serrate the edges of the tabs...


B.
 

JJ Roberts

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Jean,I like your engraving of the bird,nice pose maybe a small fish in his beck would make a nice touch.Keep up the good work. J.J.
 

highveldt

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Beautiful work, and your friend will be pleased. These birds are becoming a problem in the USA as well, and a shooting season was begun several years ago in some States to allow shooters to try to reduce their numbers.
 

mitch

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What is the problem with these birds?:confused: J.J.

they're prolific fish-eating machines and can literally wipe out lake & river fisheries. like Canada geese, they have virtually no predators, especially in urban/suburban areas and quickly become an invasive nuisance. 30 yrs ago it was rare to see one in Denver, now some parks have hundreds of them roosting & breeding- and almost no fish anymore.
 

Chujybear

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What is the problem with these birds?:confused: J.J.

couldn't be worse than the humans..
but if they are an introduced species (cant imagine why anybody would, but then, tell that to Schieffelin), they would throw off equelibrium, or if they had a historical preditor that wa wiped out, that too would mean bad luck for smelts.
 

santos

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Thank you Brian for the good advice on a discrete mounting.
I do have a TIG welder and could have put some invisible pins in the back, but titanium become very hard after heated and would be nearly impossible to engrave.

I have changed and put two blued screws,;) so the plate remains dismountable and my friend could send it back if he make some scratching in the future ( there is enough scratching in the plate made by myself ;))

P1180200.jpg

JJ, man I had the same idea: engraving a trout in his beck! If you look closely to the base of his neck, you’ll notice he is just swallowing the fish ;)
 
Last edited:

monk

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Beautiful work, and your friend will be pleased. These birds are becoming a problem in the USA as well, and a shooting season was begun several years ago in some States to allow shooters to try to reduce their numbers.

i think the chinese used these birds to go fishing for them. somehow the fish were removed from the bird before degradation began.
 

Brian Marshall

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There is a ring or strap placed on the bird's neck that will not allow the fish to pass all the way down its throat...

The birds are trained when very young that they will be rewarded by food, and given a percentage of the catch when they return.

If they do not, they cannot eat and eventually return from the hunger...


B.
 

Chujybear

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i think the chinese used these birds to go fishing for them. somehow the fish were removed from the bird before degradation began.

In Okinawa. They have a band around their throats so they can’t swallow the fish.
Eventually they let them have a few, so they do t die.
 

Adder

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they're prolific fish-eating machines and can literally wipe out lake & river fisheries. like Canada geese, they have virtually no predators, especially in urban/suburban areas and quickly become an invasive nuisance. 30 yrs ago it was rare to see one in Denver, now some parks have hundreds of them roosting & breeding- and almost no fish anymore.

We have a lot of them here in Northern Norway. I used to hunting them, and even tried to eat some of them, but they do not taste very well:)

Jørn-Ove
 

mitch

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We have a lot of them here in Northern Norway. I used to hunting them, and even tried to eat some of them, but they do not taste very well:)

Jørn-Ove

i can't imagine being so hungry i would eat a cormorant. like eating a pelican or a penguin. :(

and to those who have commented on Asians using trained birds for fishing, i remember seeing a short film in elementary school of the fishermen with their small flocks of cormorants going out in boats (like 12'-15' wooden dories) at night. they would hang a lantern off the point of the bow that would attract fish (or maybe insects that would attract fish?) and the birds would be frantically diving & swimming after the fish. i distinctly recall the rings around the birds' necks to prevent them from completely swallowing all but the smallest fish. seems the birds may have also been on leashes so the fishermen could quickly reel them into the boat, make them regurgitate their catch, then return them to the water for the feeding frenzy. kinda like submarine falconry, i guess.

funny what one remembers from childhood...
 

Adder

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Sorry. I forgot. Love Your engraving Santos:)
(Its the same Caliber(.222) I`d used when hunting cormorants, if I didnt use the cal 12 shotgun)

Jørn-Ove
 

Chujybear

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i can't imagine being so hungry i would eat a cormorant. like eating a pelican or a penguin. :(

and to those who have commented on Asians using trained birds for fishing, i remember seeing a short film in elementary school of the fishermen with their small flocks of cormorants going out in boats (like 12'-15' wooden dories) at night. they would hang a lantern off the point of the bow that would attract fish (or maybe insects that would attract fish?) and the birds would be frantically diving & swimming after the fish. i distinctly recall the rings around the birds' necks to prevent them from completely swallowing all but the smallest fish. seems the birds may have also been on leashes so the fishermen could quickly reel them into the boat, make them regurgitate their catch, then return them to the water for the feeding frenzy. kinda like submarine falconry, i guess.

funny what one remembers from childhood...



I’d be more surprised if you could scrub that from your memory banks
 

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