Douglas Fir and Rufous Hummingbird

When we built our new house on the west coast, a key consideration was the location of our bedroom so that we could have our morning coffee in bed and look down into the ocean. Another key consideration was to keep nature as undisturbed as possible, right up to the house. Our view of the sea is framed by the branches of a large Douglas fir just inches from the bedroom window. Chestnut-backed chickadees, golden-crowned kinglets and red-breasted nuthatches from time to time decorate the branches like flitting baubles on a Christmas tree.

But the brightest bauble of them all is the rufous hummingbird. He is like a little gift. Suddenly he is there ... just appearing on a slender twig. He seems as weightless as a sunbeam. The ruby-throated hummingbird of the east shimmers with scarlet and emerald. The rufous hummingbird glows orange like an ember. He preens and peers around with a sense of authority. He does not think that he is small. He is master of the air with an agility that makes the eagle seem clumsy. Then you blink and he is gone.