REG BIRCH is a talented and award-winning carver from Chincoteague Island, Virginia, U.S.A.

Reg Birch's family has been living in this tiny Atlantic coastal town for six generations. The splendor of its nature and wildlife is something that he has always loved. It was this love of nature and the sport of hunting waterfowl which finally brought him to his profession of carving.

His involvement with the art of carving began as a simple hobby in 1977. Making his own decoys for personal use had sparked his interest in the decoy carving world. He began going to local shows; first just to purchase supplies. Hereby, he discovered a whole new world of decoy carving. However, it would take him nine years of experimenting with different approaches to this trade before he decided to make this his professional career.

His first choice was to carve miniature waterfowl for approximately two years. As time went by, he progressed to creating full-scale decorative birds, accomplishing finely-detailed carvings. In the process, he entered a few shows to display his work. There he got interested in old working decoys. He started purchasing and bartering for a few of the old masters' works, just for collecting purposes, not knowing that this interest in old decoys would eventually lead him to his current profession. As a hunter at heart, he was very much inspired by the working decoy competitions. So he decided to try his hand at this type of decoy making and in doing so, he accumulated more than 250 winning ribbons for his work over a period of about five years. Eventually, he found himself being asked to judge at several shows instead of entering the contests himself.

He soon decided that he did not want to make a living by making competition grade decoys. He turned toward old style decoys and slowly introduced them into his displays at shows. Collectors became interested and so a style was found that he enjoyed making and collectors enjoyed purchasing.