For the last two months, artist Robin Hanson has been creating what he believes to be the world’s largest semipalmated sandpiper.
At 2.4 metres tall and weighing around 135 kilograms, or 300 pounds, the big statue of a tiny shorebird dwarfs the 75-year-old man who made it.
The sculpture is constructed of steel, fibreglass, epoxy — along with a dash of controversy.
It was crafted to replace another giant semipalmated sandpiper that once stood in Dorchester, a small village around 42 kilometres southeast of Moncton, near the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border.
The sculpture was based on photos of female semipalmated sandpipers in full breeding plumage, a time in their lifecycle where their feathers are at their
