The story of the bird
A Vermilion Flycatcher in coal-black and fire-scarlet, on a single Audubon-style plate. An eye-catching gift for a desert-Southwest birder, or a bold accent for a study or entryway.
The Vermilion Flycatcher does not prepare you. You are walking a dry arroyo in Arizona or Texas, nothing in particular happening, and then a bird lands on a low branch and it is the colour of a lit match. The crown and underparts are a saturated scarlet - not orange-red, not rose-red, but scarlet, the purest expression of that colour in North American birds. The back is dark brown, nearly black. The contrast is absolute.
Pyrocephalus rubinus - the name means ruby-headed firehead - is small, five to six inches, but it sits exposed and upright on open perches in the manner of all flycatchers, using its perch as a hunting platform. It darts out to catch insects, returns to the same branch or one nearby, and does this all day. The behaviour keeps it visible. The colour does the rest.
The male’s courtship flight is equally striking: he rises above the mesquites in a fluttering, circular display, his scarlet throat puffed, carrying a feather or flower petal as an offering. No other North American flycatcher courts this way. The female, in brown and peachy-white, sits nearby evaluating her options.
The Vermilion Flycatcher is resident year-round in the lowland Southwest and along river corridors into Mexico. In summer it pushes further into Texas and New Mexico. It is never common, but it is never hard to find once you know its preferred habitat: open desert edge, near water, with scattered perches.
On the wall this is the print that demands explanation. Non-birders assume it is exotic. It is not. It lives in Texas.
Paper and finish
Available in three sizes on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm - archival cotton, acid-free, matte finish. Printed by Prodigi using pigment inks rated 100+ years under display conditions.
| Size | Unframed | Framed |
|---|---|---|
| 8 × 10 in | $39 | $99 |
| 16 × 20 in | $69 | $149 |
| 24 × 30 in | $99 | $199 |
Framed prints are glazed, no mat. Frame colours: black, white or natural.
