This fledgling I assume is a ruby-throat because I live in Vermont. I find the energy of the bird as interesting as the coloring and brushstrokes can help explain motion.
What is the essence of the bird for you? Their shape can be very contorted when they reach up to the bird feeder, but this pose is restful.
Painting birds is a challenge!

Birds for years, have interrupted my view of a distant landscape. I came to birding because these fabulous creatures were always part of the landscape. I would stop my landscape painting to do a quick portrait of the bird in my view.
My own paintings taught me how birds connect the landscape, and it is how I see and paint the birds. They are the motion stirring the land and flitting through branches and they compel me to see. Learn how you see nature by looking at a series of your paintings which shows you what is important!

"Western Bluebird" watercolor 4" x 6" $85

Western Bluebirds landed on the barbed wire in Big Horn, WY last week and surprised me while I oil painted the Big Horn Mountains. This time I had my watercolors and quickly made a sketch.
Often the bird is only half visible and hidden by leaves, branches or rocks.
This was so in the open, with his mate close by. what a treat especially because they are less common every year. Feral Cats are a big problem for birds! I say keep cats indoors, so we can balance nature.

"Lark Sparrow" oil 4"x 6"

This Lark Sparrow surprised me at lunch one day. I didn't have my watercolors ready because I had a sandwich in my hands and friends eating with me.
Like a poem I memorized the markings and repeated the colors over and over so I would be able to paint the bird and look it up in my bird book.
What a beautiful bird!

Ruby Throats watercolor 5"x 10"

Ruby Throats were everywhere on Hog Island, Maine, when I was there last week. I painted this while we discussed "painter's block." Our facilitator, Julie Zuckefoose had a great quote from a writer who said it takes a really, really, really long time to write a book, if one does not write.
Painters unite and doodle(paint) while listening. Your innate sense of design will take over and voila, like these Ruby Throats, you have a painting. Let them add up and  enjoy a group of "doodles" with a friend.
In the Big Horns (trip right after Hog Island) we had art shows. Work was leaned against the tires and taped to the side of the RV! Granite peaks, passing clouds and all the campers stopped by to see great art.

This image is an oil but I often challenge myself to  watercolor from copying one of my oils. This way I use layered colors and more color and the result is a classically painted watercolor. I start with the warm yellow-oranges(not tangerine red!) then add reds under the dark colors and then go directly to my darks. Three steps and I use a light brushstroke to layer paint. The highlights on the egret will have been left from the original yellow-orange wash.

Evening Grosbeaks 4"x 6"

Evening Grosbeaks come to my feeder and I paint furiously for the few minutes that I have to paint and watch them with my naked eye. All the birds feel impossible to replicate but afterwards, its not the feathers and markings as much as the moment in time that is recorded. And the joy of being there!