January showers bring February flowers, I guess. It's spring at Lake Merrit and everybody knows it. Hummingbirds know it because they are busy defending clumps of sage flowers from anyone who comes near. Of course they'll try to stab other hummers, but I also saw this one attack a seed-eating goldfinch ("If I can't eat these seeds NO ONE WILL!") and an unsuspecting human ("Git away from mah nectar!") There's a reason the Aztec god of war is a hummingbird.
Buckeyes and daffodils also got the memo:
