What is so fascinating about hummingbirds?
Well... what’s NOT fascinating about them? They’re the tiniest birds on earth, varying from a little larger than a big insect to the size of a starling. Hummingbirds are tiny but cheeky, and sometimes even bluntly aggressive when it comes to defending their food sources.
Hummingbirds can hover like a helicopter. They can rotate on the spot, fly backwards or even upside down, and make a somersault to get away from a rival or predator. 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 inspired many wildlife artists and illustrators. Dutch designer and illustrator Jeanne Melchels of Jeanne design is one of them. 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 species in each illustration style, technique or material)
Until now 295 hummingbirds have been illustrated by Jeanne. The project is nearly finished! In this illustration overview you can find these hummingbird illustrations sorted on alphabetical order of their common name. You can also chose to see the illustrations sorted by style. 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 hummingbird illustrations which will be gathered in book in 2025!
