For carver, nature is his niche

A regal bird with its yellow head and long beak perches pensively on a glistening rock. Nearby, a yellow butterfly seems to hover above a group of shorebirds, while a duck with iridescent plumage "stares" at the observer.

A second look at the marsh-like scene reveals the unmoving birds and butterflies are made of wood by wildfowl carver Gary Stenger, whose works are on display this month at the Mount Airy branch of the Carroll County Public Library.

The carver seems to know everything about birds and rapidly names some of them on display, such as a Red-breasted Merganser and Black-capped Chickadees.

"TV drove me to carve," said the Monrovia resident. His passion developed, 14 years ago, after he retired from the National Cash Register Company as a service manager and settled with his wife Pam into a new home they built.

"There was nothing on TV I liked," he said. "If 'Gunsmoke' would have been on, I wouldn't be doing this."

Through the years, with pictures of birds as inspiration, Stenger continued to research each fowl, striving for perfection while eking out every line in every feather, even inserting a minute tongue into an open beak.

"I use pictures, reference materials - everything you can possibly research on birds," said Stenger, who carves fowl from tupelo wood and basswood.

"I look for the bird's position I want, and then find the length of its beak and the width of its body so I can create it in scale," he said.

The carver has studied drawers full of stuffed birds at the Naturalist Center - part of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. - once located in Leesburg, Va.

For a "non-complicated" piece, Stenger said, a project can take 40 to 50 hours to finish; other works require hundreds of hours, such as an owl he spent 800 hours carving.

Stenger's skill, together with his eye for detail and accuracy, has garnered him numerous awards. He won first place five times, between 2004 and 2009, at the annual Ward Museum's Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition in Ocean City.

This year's event, in April, was attended by 550 competitors from Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and Japan who entered 1,350 wildfowl carvings. The competition requires everything except birds' "eyes" to be carved, including the bases displaying the waterfowl, usually nature-inspired objects such as logs and branches.

Stenger enjoys sharing his skills with others, and has taught classes during the past eight years at a nature center in Walkersville. During that time, his students competed, every year, in the Ward World Championship, winning several awards.

Always seeking and sharing knowledge, Stenger belongs to several carving groups and attends various waterfowl festivals.

Some of Stenger's projects are making toy trucks for the annual U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots campaign, carving non-functional "walking sticks" given to veterans as a thank-you for their service, and creating 12 birds a year for family members as Christmas gifts.

A large, heavy carving he made of a "waving" American flag - created from two pieces of wood - is often displayed at various public places, including being on exhibit at the Mount Airy Senior and Community Center for Veterans Day last year.

In addition, Stenger created letter openers, shore birds and ducks from pieces of the Wye Oak, the state tree destroyed by a thunderstorm, 10 years ago. To honor the tree, the Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland State Arts Council designated part of the salvaged wood for credentialed artisans to create commemorative works for public display.

"I was put on an initial list of about 70 people, including the Carroll Carvers, who were given the oak wood," said Stenger, a member of the Westminster-based carvers group. Ultimately, the craftsmen's works were exhibited at Wye Oak State Park in Talbot County.

Though Stenger sells his creations "once in a great while," he said he gets much satisfaction from donating his pieces to charity and sharing his skills at senior centers in several counties.

"Everyone loved his pieces," said Angie Walz, manager of the Mount Airy Senior and Community Center, where Stenger made a presentation about his craft two years ago. "He's not afraid to pass his work around so people can touch his carvings ... I think he enjoys it for the pure love of sharing his gift."

In-between researching, teaching, learning and carving, Stenger said, he's always thinking about the next project.

"I have more ideas in my head, so many I will never, ever finish," he said.

But apparently his goal remains the same throughout each project: "I try to get close to as good as Mother Nature."