A Backyard Visitor

We keep an informal backyard bird list and this week a new year bird showed up to investigate our fuchsia out front and our garden in the back. We’ve got lots of flowers in bloom and it seems like this immature Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) was stopping in for a quick feed.

Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)
Our backyard visitor, a Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) resting in the elderberry in the backyard.

The hummingbird dropped in for two days this week and we’re hoping it will make another appearance or two before heading south to Mexico. Flowers are starting to emerge from the record snowfall we had in the Beaufort Range on Vancouver Island so it is possible that this bird has made its way up into the sub-alpine to take advantage of the late “spring” bloom. I’m hoping that our neighbours’ cats didn’t get it – the fuchsia is pretty close to a thick hazelnut that offers good coverage.

Let’s not think about that.

Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)
The immature Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) on the garden fence.

We don’t have a hummingbird feeder set up since the cats next door tend to be a problem so it was great to see this beautiful little bird stop in for some natural food. Another good reason to garden with nature in mind!