gardening nation: Rufous Hummingbird

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Thursday, April 13, 2006

Rufous Hummingbird

A rufous hummingbird visited the red-flowering current breifly today. It's a cold and rainy April day, the grey skies making the bright pink flowers attractive. It landed on a branch for a moment and then took off.

It came back minutes later and got busy with the flowers. Then it whirred off.

It's a windy and blustery day. It feels as though the hummingbird got blown in a little earlier than it expected. But the expert sources I consulted (BC Royal Museum) assures me that it's just the right time for the females to be showing up, arriving here on the coast 3 weeks later than the males, who arrive in March. I wonder if this one is a male, considering it's dark red crest?

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WHERE IS THE GARDEN?

I am gardening in the southwestern corner of mainland Canada, where the Fraser River meets the Pacific Ocean. In this estuary delta, the soil is acidic, a mixture of sand and clay, and very flat. The water table is not far below.