Yes, dear readers, for an Alaskan like me, the mere sighting of a hummingbird would be reason to celebrate, as I have never seen one in the wild. While hummers are present in Alaska (for a brief time), sightings are rare, and they prefer the warmer interior of the state. But here, under the overcast skies of LA, just outside the convention center, I found myself inches away from one of the smallest theropod dinosaurs to ever walk (uh, fly?) the Earth.
'Twas a truly a momentous occassion, yet alas, I did not bring a proper camera! But yes, I did remember my trusty DSi, so I was able to snap a few [blurry] pictures of it. The quality of the DSi's camera is such that it makes identification at the species level impossible. Thankfully, Lauren was on hand with an actual camera to take quality pictures of the little bird.
So after some interweb research on California's native hummers, I determined (based on coloration) that we're dealing with a female Selasphorus rufus, though that identification is tentative. If any of you readers out there can know that it's not S. rufus, please let me know.
In closing, I saw a hummingbird in the wild at E3, which totally rules.