Don Balke (North Carolina, B. 1933) "Costa's Hummingbird Gathering Nectar" Signed lower right. Original Watercolor painting on Illustration Board. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood First Day Proofcard for the U.S. 29c Costa's Hummingbird stamp issued June 15, 1992. The bright green and violet plumage of the Costa's Hummingbird is the perfect complement to a harshly beautiful landscape of red sandstone and purple sage. Found from California east to New Mexico, the Costa's Hummingbird is known for its fondness of high, dry plateaus. In the winter, the bird migrates a comparatively short distance to Arizona and southern California and into Mexico. But in the summer, the Costa's frequents the canyons and mountains of the American Southwest, as well as California's golden hills. The male is very distinctively marked, for no other hummingbird on the continent has a purple cap and throat, plus feathers that stick out like whiskers. As mating season rolls around, the male Costa's performs stunning aerial acrobatics in an attempt to woo a female. Once he has succeeded, the female will lay two tiny eggs in a nest scarcely over an inch in outside diameter. The eggs weigh as much as 20 percent of the mother's body weight, the equivalent of a 135-pound woman giving birth to a 27-pound baby. Although their parents are among the most beautiful of all birds, the young are tiny, featherless and -- homely. In about three weeks, however, they will be ready to leave the nest and are as stunningly beautiful as their parents. Image Size: 14 x 12 in. Overall Size: 21 x 18.25 in. Unframed. (B13644)