The tools and books used by Tom Mizik are covered in a layer of sawdust on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024.

You'd swear these carved birds are about to take off.

But no, the mountain bluebird, cedar waxwings, red-winged blackbird and hooded merganser are firmly mounted to their wood bases as they perch atop a few display tables and shelves at Wild Birds Unlimited.

Standing nearby is Tom Mizik, the man responsible for the brilliantly painted, glossy flock of wooden birds, composed of recycled fence and old aspen, chestnut, cedar, willow and juniper trees. Customers hover around the works during his annual sale, peering at the vast selection of mostly Colorado birds, though a few nonlocal species peek through -- a puffin and cardinal, for instance. But mostly they're species Mizik has seen in his three decades of living on more than 20 acres in Black Forest.

"It's (birdwatching) addictive once you get into identifying," he said. "Since I've been keeping track, I've seen 135 species here, at least. I see them one time and never again sometimes."

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His recent weekend show started with about 100 carvings, featuring 60 species, but he's already sold 22 pieces by early afternoon on his first day. They're selling like hot suet cakes.

Of that 22, one black-capped chickadee is going home with customer John Schoch, who calls himself "a bird guy." The chickadee was his mother's favorite bird: "It'll go next to her picture," he said.

Mizik's pieces aren't cheap, but that's due to the amount of work that goes into each Gambel's quail, Cooper's hawk and raven. A red cedar woodpecker or nuthatch, unpainted but coated with six layers of gloss, runs $75. His most expensive piece, an uber-colorful wood duck given 10 coats of paint and gloss, is $450. Most of his pieces run about $135 to $175.

"They are life-size, up to a point," Mizik said. "My sandhill cranes are not. Some things are smaller. None are bigger."

Store owner Heather Weber-Langvardt has a dozen in her collection; she adds one every year.

"He's so popular and his work is so incredible," she said. "Everybody looks forward to his show and asks when he's coming back. There's nothing like them out there. We love that they're local birds. Even the wood he uses on his bases is so beautiful."

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More than three decades ago, Mizik went out searching for bird sculptures, perusing stores in Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs, but never found exactly what he was looking for.

"I've always been a do-it-yourselfer so I ended up making what I wanted to have," said Mizik, who retired from doing commercial irrigation for a sprinkler and landscaping company. "The heron was my signature piece for awhile."

Through the decades, he's learned some things about his craft: some species don't sell, aspen takes color well, art festivals and woodworking shows aren't his style, and it's better to leave his birds eyeless.

"Eyes can make or break it," he said. "I'm not good at getting lifelike eyes. And they don't need eyes to know what you're looking at."

Mizik likes to take his time on his art, and does only two shows every year, at Wild Birds and the Monte Vista Crane Festival in March. Every other year, he does a show at home. He's due for one in August.

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In between shows, though, he's willing to set his work up in his house if people are interested in seeing what he does or buying a piece. He also does commissions.

"The biggest seller for the last couple of years has been nuthatches," Mizik said. "Before that it used to be hummingbirds, but those have tailed off. It used to be chickadees before that and tailed off."

He's been a birdwatcher for more than 50 years, ever since taking a college class in ornithology, and loves when a new winged critter makes its way into his yard, as it gives him a new creative challenge.

"I've seen other bird (sculptures), but no one does them the way I do, which is good," he said. "I like to have this style as my own. If you can look at it and know what species it is, that's my aim."