For Mattapoisett resident Mike McCarthy, a 30-year career carving birds began with a book on antique shorebirds he found while vacationing with his wife at a hotel in Maine.

“I opened up the book and saw this beautiful antique shorebird,” McCarthy said. “I remember saying ‘this a work of art.’ That’s when I thought this was what I wanted to do.”

And since 1980, McCarthy, 58, has been creating his works of art for consumers and art-lovers all over New England with close to 30 art and trade shows a year and with his workshop, Mattapoisett Bird Works, located in the back of his home.

For McCarthy, who began whittling when he was 12, carving birds was a hobby that developed into a full-time job. Previously, McCarthy had worked as a marine electrician for ten years. However, he said a career change was in order after he started exhibiting his work in art and trade shows in 1990.

“At one show I made more than my paycheck at my regular work, so I guess that’s when I thought I should be doing something else,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy quit his job in 1994 and began working as a full-time bird carver, a job in which he takes every detail of birds – their colors, their wingspan – into his creations.

His attention to detail, he said, is something he developed over the years with his participation in various art shows and is something he is very proud of.

“The shows were a big learning process,” McCarthy said.

For each carving, McCarthy said he researches the birds extensively, trying to make them as realistic as possible.

Now, the former student also works part-time as an art teacher. McCarthy has taught bird-carving seminars for New England Wood Carvers Inc., as well as acting as a substitute art teacher for Mattapoisett’s Center School. There, he said, he had the students do two-dimensional soap carvings as part of a lecture on symmetry.

“I was nervous at first,” McCarthy said. “I wasn’t really good in front of people. I was too overwhelmed. But once I started getting familiar with my carving prowess, it’s been fine ever since.”

Though he closes down his shop until April, McCarthy said he continues to work as both teacher and artist, throughout the winter. Most recently, McCarthy exhibited his shorebird carvings in the Marion Art Center’s Holiday Shop, which ended it’s four-week run on Dec. 23.

“It’s been quite a ride so far,” McCarthy said. “I’ll just keep going where it takes me.”