Family tradition in the Bua household has always upheld a deep reverence for nature, and Bua has loved the outdoors from childhood. He now spends up to five hours a day measuring, cutting, burning and gessoing to make his lifelike bird sculptures. He devotes the minimum 15 hours it takes to make a goldfinch—or the three months needed to create a Harris hawk. It’s his special pride to create the appropriate habitats for his birds, whether wetland or branch. And he researches each bird he carves “to understand them better.”