![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SUT-L-COWAN-COL-0329-01.jpg\")
An Allen\u2019s hummingbird. (Ernie Cowan \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nLike a rare daylight-visible meteor, a brilliant red fireball flashed before my eyes, interrupting a mindless moment of communion with nature.<\/p>\n
I was enjoying my morning coffee routine on the patio as the rising sun climbed above a distant ridge.<\/p>\n
Hummingbirds were buzzing about my nectar feeders, a yellow-rumped warbler was bathing in the nearby water fountain, and the air was filled with the soft cooing of a distant male roadrunner calling for a mate.<\/p>\n
This wasn\u2019t a meteor, however, but the iridescent red throat of an Allen\u2019s hummingbird ignited by a bright ray of morning sunlight streaming through the leafy branches of a nearby tree.<\/p>\n
I assumed it was an Allen\u2019s hummingbird because they are more frequent here than the very similar species known as a rufous hummingbird.<\/p>\n
The striking red throat flashed beautifully in the morning sunlight, so I decided to get my camera since this flamboyant bird was actively engaged in morning feeding and filling the air with bursts of color from its glowing feathers.<\/p>\n
I settled into a comfortable chair about 6 feet from the feeder and enjoyed a spectacular show for the next 20 minutes as hummingbirds danced about the nectar feeders, some hovering in line while awaiting their turn to drink.<\/p>\n
Watching hummingbirds is very Zen-like, almost hypnotic.<\/p>\n
They have incredible speed, they can dart about like bolts of lightning, changing directions, hovering, flying backward, up, down and rapidly in any direction.<\/p>\n
Nectar feeders can provide an endless show of nature\u2019s beauty.<\/p>\n
Just watching this incredible display is pleasing, but imagine the challenge of getting good photographs of such animated creatures, especially when you are only focused on one bird?<\/p>\n
There was the usual assemblage of male and female Anna\u2019s and just a couple of the Allen\u2019s darting out occasionally from the sanctuary of the nearby tree to drink nectar from the hanging feeders.<\/p>\n
It was the Allen\u2019s I wanted to photograph.<\/p>\n
An Allen\u2019s hummingbird. (Ernie Cowan \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
I was getting some of my best shots as the colorful male Allen\u2019s hovered momentarily while waiting its turn to feed.<\/p>\n
At a shooting speed of 20 frames per second, it didn\u2019t take long to accumulate several hundred images, so it was time to download them to the computer.<\/p>\n
As images began to appear on the monitor, I realized that in addition to the Allen\u2019s hummingbird I had captured photos of that similar, but far less frequent visitor.<\/p>\n
Besides the Allen\u2019s there was a rufous hummingbird hanging out at the Mt. Hoo feeders.<\/p>\n
The rufous and Allen\u2019s are extremely difficult birds to distinguish in the field because of their similarity.<\/p>\n
In fact, experienced birders typically only report sightings of these hummingbirds as \u201cSelasphorus\u201d since this identifies the genus, while determining the species in the field is only speculation.<\/p>\n
In general, both species have similar overall\u00a0color with brilliant red throats and an orange breast with a broad white bar under the throat.<\/p>\n
While there are some color differences such as the more common green back of the Allen\u2019s, sometimes the rufous will also show green back feathers.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SUT-L-COWAN-COL-0329-03.jpg\")
A rufous hummingbirg. (Ernie Cowan \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
The most distinctive difference are tiny notches in the second tail feather of the adult male rufous hummingbird.<\/p>\n
But imagine trying to see that when these speedsters are in flight?<\/p>\n
As images began to download, that distinction showed up in my photos.<\/p>\n
Allen\u2019s hummingbirds are year-round residents in Southern California but the rufous is a rarer visitor that passes through during spring and fall migrations while traveling between winter homes in Mexico to as far north as Alaska in the summer.<\/p>\n
Both species will eagerly feed at nectar feeders.<\/p>\n
I was fortunate to capture both species, including an image of the definitive notch in the rufous\u2019s tail feathers.<\/p>\n
It was exciting to capture the notched feathers, but more enjoyable to just sit and enjoy the magnificent show of these magical creatures.<\/p>\n
Hummingbirds are quite tolerant of humans, and I have even had them land on my hand when I am hanging feeders filled with fresh nectar.<\/p>\n
I always whistle to let them know fresh nectar has arrived.<\/p>\n
These little fireballs waste no time coming in to eat.<\/p>\n
Nature updates<\/p>\n
As mentioned in an earlier column, nature\u2019s time clock seems to be a little ahead this spring.<\/p>\n
Hooded orioles arrived at Mt. Hoo about 10 days earlier than in past years, and the nesting cycle of house wrens is also about a month ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n
Nest building is nearly complete, and for two nights an adult house wren has spent the night inside the wren nest box.<\/p>\n
Since we installed a nest camera in 2018, we have had seven eggs each year that hatch in about 19 days.<\/p>\n
In 2020, the nest was raided by an unpaired male, and only three of seven chicks survived.<\/p>\n
A few chicks have not survived over the years, but most years we have seen seven chicks successfully leave the nest taking their joyful song into the world. It\u2019s always an emotional goodbye.<\/p>\n
We are monitoring with the small camera inside the nest box, and you can follow frequent updates on the Mt. Hoo Wren Nesting Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cowan is a freelance columnist. Email\u00a0ernie@packtrain.com<\/a> or visit erniecowan.substack.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like a rare daylight-visible meteor, a brilliant red fireball flashed before my eyes, interrupting a mindless moment of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[108653,18719,1727,108654,74,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-242039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-allens-hummingbird","9":"tag-ernie-cowan","10":"tag-outdoors","11":"tag-rufous-hummingbird","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-san-diego-headlines","14":"tag-san-diego-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}