Hamerkop Canvas Print, African Bird Wall Art, Unusual Wildlife Photography Decor

Every wall needs one thing on it that makes a guest ask what it is. A brown bird on a rock does not look like that thing, right up until you tell them what it builds.

Printed and shipped from the US for US orders, and normally from Canada for Canadian orders and from Latvia, inside the EU, for European orders, so buyers in Canada and the EU should not pay customs fees.

The hamerkop is a medium sized African wading bird, plain brown all over, named for the hammer shape its crest and bill make in profile. Nothing about it is showy. What it does instead is build the most absurd nest of any bird on earth: a domed fortress of sticks, mud and whatever else it can carry, often more than a metre and a half across, made of many thousands of pieces, with a tunnel entrance and a chamber inside. It takes months. The structure will hold the weight of a grown person. Owls, geese and small mammals move into the ones it abandons, and it abandons plenty, because a pair will often build more than one in a year for no reason anybody has settled on.

It carries a reputation to match. In parts of southern Africa the nest is left strictly alone, and the bird has long been linked with lightning, storms and bad luck for anyone who interferes with it.

As a print it is quietly good company. Soft browns and greys against a background thrown completely out of focus, nothing loud in it, so it hangs in a room that already has enough colour. It is the calm one that turns out to have the best story.

For a study, a hallway, a living room, a dining room or an office. A fine gift for birdwatchers, for anyone who has travelled in Africa, and for the person who already owns every obvious wildlife print there is.

Each canvas is signed by the photographer in the lower corner.

Sizes
• 16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
• 18 x 24 in (45.7 x 61 cm)

Canvas details
• Acid-free, pH-neutral, poly-cotton base
• 20.5 mil (0.5 mm) thick poly-cotton blend canvas
• Canvas fabric weight: 13.9 oz/yd² (470 g/m²)
• Fade-resistant
• Hand-stretched over solid wood stretcher bars
• Matte finish coating
• 1.5 in (3.81 cm) deep
• Mounting brackets included
• Blank product in the EU sourced from Latvia
• Blank product in the US sourced from the US

This canvas is made especially for you when you order, which is why it takes a little longer to arrive. Making to order instead of in bulk helps reduce overproduction, so thank you for choosing thoughtfully.

Yours sincerely,
Crtshots