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Ruby-throated Hummingbird Male I wanted to paint a spectacular bird, one of our native tiny hummingbirds in flight. Beating its wings 53 times a second, I think of them as perpetual motion machines of the animal world. The photograph I based my painting on is from one of my favorite photographers, Jerry Acton, a nature photographer from Berkshire, NY (visit http://www.jerryacton.com/. He captured this hummingbird in perfect focus sipping nectar from an iris so there was little for me to change. I added the iris bud to the left hand side of the painting to balance the space to the far right then focused on how to capture the beating of its wings in watercolor. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Archilochus colubris, are sexually dimorphic, the male "hummer" has a vivid ruby throat while the larger female has a white throat. The only species of hummingbird that breeds in eastern North America, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are found throughout the eastern deciduous and mixed forest. A migratory species, they fly nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico to winter in Central America. The original watercolor, presented in a 1.5" wide cherry wood frame (double matted in pebbled sandstone on brick with an outer dimension of 14.5" x 17.5"), is available for $1,295.00. Limited edition and note cards are also available. Click here for availability and price.