Rufous Hummingbird
Selasphorus rufus · Hummingbirds
Rufous Hummingbird in the spruce
San Juan Islands, 16 June 2021
A Rufous Hummingbird perched in a spruce on the San Juan Islands in June, at the northern end of a breeding range that runs up the Pacific coast to Alaska. It is the longest migrant of any hummingbird for its size, from Mexico to Alaska and back, and the islands are where it nests.
Perched rather than hovering, which is when a hummingbird is easiest to actually look at. The plain look, the buff wash along the flanks and the pale scaling on the throat make this a female or a young bird. The range does the rest: on the San Juans in June the only rufous-flanked hummingbird that breeds is the Rufous, so the Allen's that would otherwise be impossible to rule out isn't in the running. The cone gives the tree away as a spruce, most likely Sitka.
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