Artist Reply: Yes, they were all very nearly as captivated with me and my 'big eye' (camera lens) as I was of them, their stunning coloration/markings, and their at once both playful and intense nature.

Artist Reply: Thank you so much! He definitely was posing for me. All of them were (there were at least 150 of them, I stopped counting once I got to 150... this is a migratory stop for them because of the trees that have the mini crab apples on them). It is not really visible in this photo,there is an area on the wings that has bright red on it, the lower part of their chests are a yellow, and the upper part of their chest and back are actually peach covered by what looks like air-brushed thin layer of gray over top of the peach. (I know this because a couple of years ago I ended up saving one that got glanced by another car... I used my car to block traffic, got out and picked him up, telling him I was a friend and was sending him love and "safe" feelings, he calmed down very quickly. when I got back in my car I opened my hands a little bit to look at him, then handed him to my brother to hold while I drove back to the gatehouse (happened at Plum Island Wildlife Refuge so there were Fish and Game employees there). Then when I brought him into the gatehouse to have them call a wildbird rehabilitation specialist to come get him. The guy showed up in under 10 minutes and after a brief exam said that once he healed that he should be able to be released back into the wild.).