Colin is the owner and operator of Starky’s Avian Taxidermy in East Central Alberta. Although Colin has just opened up his business in 2023, he is no stranger to taxidermy. Colin is the son of Brian who has been operating Starky’s Taxidermy out of Edmonton for the past 40 years. Colin has been doing taxidermy since his early teens, and has been doing avian (bird) taxidermy professionally for over 10 years now. If any of you have had a bird mount done out of Starky’s Taxidermy in Edmonton since 2011, there is a 99 percent chance that Colin was the guy who done your mount!

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Colin is mostly a wildlife painter who has been portraying the Canadian prairies in his artwork since his teens and has some tremendous achievements to date in that department. Some being personally invited by world renowned wildlife artist, Robert Bateman, to attend a prestigious seminar he taught for Master Artists when Colin was barely 21 years old. At the age of 25 Colin debut his artwork portraying the Canadian Grasslands as a 2500 square foot one man exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, making Colin one of the youngest, if not the youngest artist in Canadian history to have a solo exhibition at one of the countries acclaimed Provincial Museums. If Colin isn’t working on taxidermy, you can most often find him painting as he is continuously exhibiting his artwork to raise the awareness of the Canadian Grasslands Region. Colin brings all of his artistic prowess into taxidermy as to Colin “Taxidermy comes much easier than painting as I do not have to worry about lighting and getting colours right as much of it is already given to me in the flesh – the feathers!”.

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Colin also holds a diploma in Wildlife & Fisheries Conservation and a degree in Environmental Sciences. This has led Colin on some adventures working as a wildlife technician (with you guest it, birds!) in Canada’s Grasslands and Arctic regions in previous years. Most recently, during the summer of 2023, Colin worked in the Sub-Arctic region of the Hudson’s Bay Lowlands assisting in research taking place on Canada, Atlantic Brant, and Lesser Snow Geese.

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With Colin’s artistic expertise, a profound admiration and knowledge of birds, and attention to detail, he now brings all of this experience into his work as an Avian Taxidermist with efforts to bring you the best quality mounts Colin can create!