Rufous Hummingbirds have returned, causing much angst among the resident Anna’s Hummers. This guy caught my eye with his gorget of copper, gold, and green.
Notice how the colors change with the angle of the light.
Here’s a female rufous, with her few irridescent dots and buffy sides.
She flashes her tail colors when the male is being too pesky.
I’m not sure what this American Goldfinch was doing, but he was checking out the hummingbird feeder for over a minute.
Ethical Birder 
I saw my first Rufous of the season on Friday and heard one yesterday evening buzzing around. Maybe the Goldfinch has a sweet tooth?
Monday – March 30, 2009
Just saw a Rufous male this morning in our backyard. We
live about 1 1/2 miles east of Clackamas Town Center. This is
the first Rufous we’ve ever seen with perhaps the exception of a female which would be difficult to identify.
akron oh.just got ruby’s on the 6th but here on the 8th i have, male and female, goldies sitting and drinking from the feeder. almost gaurding it.
Interesting – I just had a goldfinch hanging out at my hummingbird feeder & googled to see if anyone else ever had this happen. Mine was trying to put his beak in the opennings. I;m not sure if he actually was able to drink anything. I’m located in Pennsylvania, so its not the same bird 🙂
i’ve seen it quite a bit this year been feeding finches and hummers and have never seen this before. michael.