Allen's and rufous

I've always enjoyed watching birds. Some of my fondest memories are of watching the beautiful and full of personality hummingbirds. In California, we don't get the more familiar (at least in artwork and prose) ruby-throated hummingbird. From my observations, most of the more colorful and popular bird species in general live in other parts of the United States: ruby-throats, blue jays, and black-capped chickadees for example. Here where I am, we have Anna's hummingbirds, scrub jays, and chestnut-backed chickadees instead.

But I've learned to appreciate the birds that are found in my area, including two of the species of hummingbird that I see in Concord: the Allen's hummingbird and the rufous hummingbird. Or used to see anyway. Yes, I still have the pleasure of watching the common Anna's hummingbird year-round, but the Allen's and rufous only seasonally... and now rarely.

In recent years, my sightings of the Allen's and rufous species of hummingbirds have been drastically reduced. Whereas for part of the year, I used to have several of them around the house and neighborhood for at least a few weeks, now I'm lucky to see any once or twice. Literally once or twice, feeding at some flowers for a moment, then gone for the entire year. I miss them. And I wonder why - what happened?

The Allen's hummingbird has a smaller range than most species as it is. It is found in a (relatively) limited part of the California coast. Although it typically has a shiny green back as opposed to the usually rufous colored back of the rufous species, technically I've read that it's more complicated telling them apart than that! So I'm not entirely certain which is which. But they are beautiful in either case and apparently dwindling in numbers. I would like to think that it is just a case of ebb and flow and I'll again start seeing them as much as many years ago, but I'm worried that that is not the case. Perhaps their habitat is shrinking? Climate change? Development? Whereas miners are said to have used canaries to indicate the safety of their caves, I look at the numbers of Allen's and rufous hummingbirds to indicate the health of our environment. One of many indicators I could use.