Hello Tweets,

Today at 4pm my mother and I had our first male Rufous Hummingbird of the season in our backyard,as it came to both our feeders as well as forage in a Wild Currant that we have planted in our backyard. This sighting is 11 days from the previous year and our earliest date is the date is the 7th of March,1992 and 1995 and we still have 3 Anna's Hummingbirds that are resident in our yard,possibly more. My mother was busy cooking our dinner and she happened to look out the window and spotted the male Rufous buzzing around one of our two hummingbird feeders,then the bird flew actively to our Vine Maple tree and perched,then came back to sip from the feeder,then flew into the yard to our Wild Currant that is in full bloom. It will be interesting to see how the interaction will be between both species through the spring. Typically both species cahse eachother around the yard,then the Anna's take over after the first few days of their arrival in our yard,but then the Rufous do come back and then they both seem to get along together. A possible theory of having our early Rufous is the heavy winds at times with in the past two days.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan

godwit at worldnet.att.net