Audubon Plate # 425,  Columbian (Anna's) Hummingbird   $250

Print size: 26 1/4" x 39 1/4"; image size: 12" x 19"

Based on a composition probably painted in London in 1838.

Audubon received the female and nest from Thomas Nuttall, who collected them in the Rocky Mountains.  The four males at the top of the print were drawn from specimens Audubon found in an English collection.

Anna's hummingbird is slightly larger than other West Coast hummingbirds and is the only hummer to remain constantly throughout this area in winter.  The others cross the border into Mexico.  In the early spring the male often makes quite an effort at singing, though this sounds to some like a high-pitched squeak rather than a song.   There is no mistaking the peculiar popping noise he makes at the bottom of his pendulum courtship flight.  EHJ