On Taylors Island waterfowl is abundant.  The island is a hunter's paradise. There were some very talented decoy carvers on the island back in the days of market hunting. Here is a true example of an old Taylors Island working decoy that is now worth a fortune. However, the story about how it was found seems a little suspect.

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One night in the 1950s, Adele Earnest, Americana dealer, founding trustee of the American Folk Art Museum and author of the 1965 book The Art of the Decoy: American Bird Carvings, was driving down a moonlit street on Taylor’s Island on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, when off in the distance she spotted a farmer’s bonfire. With a refined eye that could only belong to a long-time admirer of waterfowl decoys, she noticed a beautifully carved swan perched atop the flames. She immediately ran from her car, “screaming like a banshee”—as she put it in her book—in order to save the wooden bird. Preserved for posterity, the swan has since passed into some important collections—first the Alvin Freidman-Klein Collection and then that of Henry Stansbury, a Maryland historian who collects waterfowl decoys from the Old Line state and environs. In January 2007 Stansbury acquired the swan for $50,400 at an auction held jointly by Christie’s New York and Maryland decoy specialist Guyette & Schmidt.

Here is the Christie's Listing:
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​A VERY RARE WORKING SWAN DECOY 
Believed to be from Taylor's Island, Maryland area, Circa 1900
Three-piece body construction joined with 1/2 inch dowels. Raised neck seat flipped up tail and detailed bill carving.
Old in use repaint that is weathered and worn. Small chip in one edge of bill. Head has been off and re-attached with some filler and paint added to the head/neck seam. Scorching on underside.
21 in. high, 20 in. long 
Provenance
Purchased from Adele Earnest