Hummingbird in the coral tree
Selasphorus sp.
Rufous or Allen's Hummingbird · San Diego Botanic Garden · 7 March 2026
A hummingbird in a coral tree in a San Diego garden in March, at the nectar the tree offers on bare wood before its leaves come. This is the Selasphorus corner of the country: Allen's breeds on this coast and Rufous passes through in spring on its way to Alaska, and both work the same flowers.
Rufous flanks and, on this bird, a back that is mostly rufous too, with green confined to the shoulders, which leans toward an adult male Rufous rather than an Allen's, whose back stays solidly green. It isn't quite enough to settle it: a small proportion of male Rufous carry more green on the back than this, and from behind the two overlap.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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