Mangrove Hummingbird

2020 
18 x 24in 
acrylic on masonite

As it’s name suggests, the Mangrove Hummingbird is found only along the Pacific mangrove coastline of Costa Rica.  They are particularly tied to the species of mangrove I’ve painted here, the Tea Mangrove.  The large white flowers of the Tea Mangrove are fragrant, likely pollinated by bats, however, the Mangrove Hummingbird relies on the nectar of these flowers also.  For me, this is yet another example of how interrelated and complex the web of life in a tropical environment can be, and how fragile it is.  The Tea Mangrove needs bats and vice versa, and the Mangrove Hummingbird needs the Tea Mangrove.  We need all three.  Unfortunately, this habitat is usually the first to get put under the bulldozer to make way for all inclusive resorts who value the beachfront real estate for completely different reasons.

  I wanted to portray the incredibly dense, lush, dark world of a Tea Mangrove ecosystem, with their statuesque buttress roots, the intense shafts of tropical sunlight penetrating the darkness here and there, the Georgia O’Keefe-like quality of the sensuous Tea Mangrove flowers, and the Mangrove Hummingbird caught by the sun, shining like a tropical living jewel.