Bird’s Nest History, and How One Man’s Soup is Another Man’s Fly

I mentioned the “Bird’s Nest” fly in last nights post, I had the privilege of knowing Calvert Bird years ago when it was created. Cal was one of the most singular and gentle fellows I’ve ever known, he had a weakness for coffee and wreath cake, which I exploited unmercifully.

All of Cal’s well known flies are generalist patterns, you won’t find individual legs, or precise structure that limits the fly to a single genus and species; Cal was a trained artist, a calligrapher by trade, and his artistic skills imbued all of his work.

Cal had retired and lived across the street from Frank Matarelli, the “father” of all of the fly tying tools we use today. Watching that pair in action was always a treat, as gentle and soft spoken as Cal was, Frank was strident and bellicose. They often collaborated, Cal would fiddle with Frank’s tools, and Frank would berate Cal for using them wrong, or some other imagined offense.

The Bird’s Nest pattern was invented around 1984. Cal tested the fly on trips to Hat Creek, and handed them with a knowing wink to his friends, “Try these,” was all he would say.

The original pattern was a precise blend of fur not seen in today’s commercial versions. 50% gray Australian Opossum, 40% Hare’s Mask (with guard hairs intact) and 10% Natural baby Seal fur. Cal preferred the heavily barred Teal flank feathers for the hackle, these were dyed with RIT Maple Sugar cloth dye.

The rear of the fly was left naturally unruly, the combination of the guard hairs, coarse seal fur, and Australian Opossum was untamable. The head of the fly was combed with the male side of Velcro, to increase the visible spike of the hair, and merge it with the teal flank.

The hackle was also applied differently, Cal would cut the center out of a flank feather and strip back the balance, leaving a small “chevron” of flank feather on each side. The amount depended on the size of the finished fly, perhaps a 1/4″ for small flies, 1/2″ for larger #8’s and above. He would press one side onto the fly with his thumb, and would use the thread to distribute the fibers. As the thread circled the far side of the fly, he would press the remaining teal close to the shank with his forefinger, then allow the thread to distribute the fibers along the far side and belly of the fly.

The fly originally debuted in two flavors, Natural (the fly we use today) and Spectral.

The Spectral Bird’s Nest was pure artist. Formal art training introduces the Artist’s Color Wheel, all colors are mixed from only three; Red, Yellow, and Blue. Secondary colors are mid-way between primaries, mix yellow and blue to get green, red and yellow to get orange, red and blue yields purple.

To get the Spectral Bird’s Nest, Cal used the Australian Opossum / Hare’s Ear base, and replaced the 10% natural seal, with 10% comprised of red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and purple, seal. All of the primary and secondary colors on the color wheel.

He would press a couple into your hand, with, “Fish see whatever they want with these.”

It is one of the best all-round searching flies I’ve used, and I can find no reference to it anywhere. Today’s tiers can substitute any coarse synthetic for the seal, it must be unruly enough to stick out from the Opossum/Hare’s Mask blend - as seal does. The completed fly should have “guard hairs” of colored fiber sticking out of the grey base, not buried in the gray where it will not be seen.

Spectral Bird’s Nest HiRez image

I have a date with an effluent creek, see you on the “Brownline” …

Tags: Calvert Bird, fly tying, Bird’s Nest, Spectral Bird’s Nest, color wheel