30×22 watercolor; 40×30 framed
I chose forty-two of the most colorful birds in the world for this painting. Of course, there are a great many more than that, so I had to narrow my list down to just some favorites. Then there was the trick of creating a composition for them! I wanted a vivid crowd of birds, but with enough negative space between them so that each was mostly visible. At the same time, I wanted only the birds, with no branches or other support structure. The birds themselves became the structure as they overlapped just enough to build up a pyramidal design.
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The ID Chart below has both common and scientific names.
- Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus
- Banded Cotinga Cotinga maculata
- Black-and-Red Broadbill Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos
- Blue Dacnis Dacnis cayana
- Blue Manakin Chiroxiphia caudata
- Blue-crowned Motmot Momotus momota
- Blue-naped Chlorophonia Chlorophonia cyanea
- Blue-throated Bee-eater Merops viridis
- Eastern Rosella Platycercus eximius
- European Bee-Eater Merops apiaster
- Fiery-throated Hummingbird Panterpe insignis
- Fischer’s Turaco Tauraco_fischeri
- Golden Pheasant Chrysolophus pictus
- Gouldian Finch Erythrura gouldiae
- Great Jacamar Jacamerops aureus
- Green Honeycreeper Chlorophanes spiza
- Green Magpie Cissa chinenesis
- Green-headed Tanager Tangara seledon
- Green-tailed Sunbird Aethopyga nipalensis
- Himalaya Monal Lophophorus impejanus
- Hoopoe Upupa epops
- Horned Parakeet Eunymphicus cornutus
- Lilac-breasted Roller Coracias caudatus
- Malachite Kingfisher Alcedo cristata
- Masked Trogan Trogon personatus
- Orange-backed Troupial Icterus croconotus
- Oriental Dwarf Ceyx erithaca
- Paradise Tanager Tangara chilensis
- Painted Bunting Passerina ciris
- Purple-crested Turaco Tauraco porphyreolophus
- Purple-throated Mountaingem Hummingbird Lampornis calolaemus
- Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus moluccanus
- Red-legged Honeycreeper Cyanerpes cyaneus
- Scarlet honeycreeper Vestiaria coccinea
- Scarlet-chested Parrot Neophema splendida
- Sun Conure Aratinga solstitialis
- Superb Starling Lamprotornis superbus
- Temminck’s Tagopan Tragopan temminckii
- Violet Sabrewing Hummingbird Campylopterus hemileucurus
- Wilson’s Bird of Paradise Cicinnurus respublica
- Wood Duck Aix sponsa
- Yellow-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes flavifrons