What is so appealing about hummingbirds?
Well... what's NOT appealing about them? Many members of this tiniest-birds-on-earth family have dazzling colors and glittering plumage. The shiny feathers of some hummingbirds even are iridescent: they change of color when looked upon from a different angle. Just like magic...
Hummingbirds have amazingly aerobatic flight abilities. Their unique flight mechanisms result in a completely different style of flight than we know of other birds. Hummingbirds have perfected the art of hovering: they can remain steady while hovering, and hover for prolonged periods. This enables them to feed on flowers while staying airborne. Hummingbirds are extremely agile. They can hover, rotate on the spot, fly backwards and can even fly upside down or make a somersault to get away from a rival or predator.
Hummingbirds have inspired many wildlife artists and illustrators. Dutch designer and illustrator Jeanne Melchels of Jeanne design is also fascinated by these remarkably small and colorfull birds. In 2016 Jeanne started a Hummingbird Illustration Project on Instagram. Her goal: to illustrate 300 different hummingbird species in 60 different styles, materials or techniques (5 in each illustration style, technique or material)
Until now more than 220 hummingbirds have been illustrated by Jeanne. In this illustration overview you can find these hummingbird illustrations sorted on alphabetical order of their common name. This illustration project is based on the BirdLife international list of 371 hummingbird species.
As soon as new additional hummingbird illustrations are made, they will hover right into this overview.
On our way to 300 hummingbirds!
