White Crow Flutes - Bird Head Carved Flutes

I have recently found a way to incorporate my love of the flutes with my love of wildlife and wildlife painting.
The merger of these gifts is brought together in the creation of the Bird Head Carved Flutes. They are very special in that they are made the "old way", as part of the flute body itself. These accurately carved and painted reproductions
of the birds of North America differ from others you may have seen. Unlike other flutes of this type these
carvings are NOT "add ons" or "closed ends" to the flute nor do we use direction holes to terminate the bore length
and then glue on the head. Rather the bird's head and open mouth are an integral part of the flute body and the
functional end of the flute bore. This method is much more demanding in the crafting however we feel it makes
a great difference in the flutes tone and timbre. To do this one must make 90% of the flute, shaping, drilling, and
tuning based on experience alone. Once complete, the bird head carving is begun first by slowly carving the
open beak back until the fundamental is near pitch. The beak shape is then refined and brought into pitch.
Only then can we begin to carve the remainder of the bird head. After carving the major features the feathers are burned into the wood. Next a coat of sealer is applied to the wood and the bird head is painted in it's natural and accurate colors with acrylic paint. The final touch is sealing the entire flute including the head with a poly sealer.

Top left to bottom right - Full scale drawing, Carved head, Burning feathers & details, Painting the design and
Below the finished Bird Head.

Little Green Heron - Collection of Hope F. NY/MA
Rainbow Poplar and Canary Wood - D5

All Bird Head Flutes are priced
$900.00 for flutes Middle F to below High C
$800.00 for High C or greater
Each includes Traditional Shaped Mouthpiece, Dragon Fly Fetish, Special Fleece Lined Fabric Carry Bag and Leather Trim/Binding

I have committed to my customers that I will only do a single flute of each species of bird. I will not repeat the design by just using different a different wood. The birds all have open mouths and require the flute to be middle F or higher. In the listing below there are many beautiful North American Birds to choose from and suggestions for sizing. If the bird is struck through it has been used already. You will note that Raptors or birds with "hooked beaks" do not appear on the list. this is because the beak extends into the air flow and can effect the uniformity of tone - please email me on specifics if you desire a Bird of Prey for a Bird Head flute.

~~Great Blue Heron~~ Great White Heron Yellow Crowned Night Heron ~~Black Crowned Night Heron~~

Swan Whistling Swan ~~Canada Goose~~ Snow goose Brant ~~Sand Hill Crane~~ ~~Pileated Woodpecker~~

~~Red Crowned Crane~~ Tri-Colored Heron Loons (~~Common,~~ Arctic, Red Throat) Wood Stork Whooping Crane Raven

Ducks,Ducks,Ducks! ~~Crow~~ Pied Billed Grebe Eared Grebe Purple Gallinule

Black Skimmer Least Bittern American Bittern Rails Small Ducks (like Teals)

Road Runner Ani King Fisher Flicker (2 types) Shore Birds Blue Jay