Karen Engelmann describes how she began Turd Birds at her Lodi home during a recent interview. Engelmann has created nearly 200 birds from horse manure and driftwood. (News-Sentinel file photo)

Lodi woman's 'Turd Birds' attract attention of TV show producers

Karen Engelmann is pooped.

Ever since the article about her Turd Birds -- bird figurines that she makes by hand out of horse manure -- was published in the News-Sentinel three weeks ago, she has been very busy.

"I never in my dreams would have thought that my little ol' turds would have caused this much of a commotion," Engelmann said.

She has already been contacted by producers from "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Living It Up with Ali & Jack," who are both interested in featuring the Lodi resident's Turd Birds on their shows after sweeps.

Engelmann's work will also be featured on "The Sharon Osborne Show." As part of a segment on things that look like Sharon and Ozzie Osborne, Engelmann will make her bird likenesses of the talk show host and her rocker husband.

Engelmann has also been approached by radio shows across the country and abroad, including a national radio station in London. She has done 16 interviews so far but had to turn some of them down when the hours were interfering with her sleep time ("I was contacted by a morning talk show in Maine, but 6 a.m. in Maine isn't 6 a.m. here," Engelmann said).

But it's all led to more business. She has received more than 125 catalog requests in the past couple of weeks and only 25 of those were from California. New orders have included several requests for custom birds -- a judge, a UPS delivery driver, a tennis player ... even one to look like someone's boss, with a photo enclosed.

She plans to launch her Turdbirds.com Web site in the next week.

"I have had more fun through all of this. I have laughed so much I think I have permanent laugh lines," Engelmann said. "I believe it just makes the quote on the catalog cover all that much more appropriate: 'If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.' -- Albert Einstein."