foomamablumbie

The hummingbird population is at its peak. We have ruby-throats who are most likely passing through–I don’t think we’ve had them all summer, but there were a few in the spring. More abundant are the black-chinned, which are significantly smaller than the ruby-throats, and which do not all have black chins. Just as the ruby-throats do not all have ruby throats.

I might be wrong about the black-chinned; the east coast has only one kind of hummingbird and my ID skillz are not all the way there yet.

*Edit: Rosemary said that the black-chinned are actually rufous hummingbirds, a new one for me. They are rare here, so are probably migrating, like the ruby-throats. Changing the captions.

Next week the International Space Station (ISS) will be visible as it passes over Canyon Lake on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Monday’s path will be good, to the south, but only about three minutes. Wednesday’s will be a test of how much we can see over the house to the north. Details are on the calendar.

Thursday is the day we hope for good weather–the space station will be the brightest we’ve seen, it will be visible for six minutes, it will be high overhead, and the path is perfect for watching from the deck.

The site I use to find these passes is Heavens-Above; it’s a little clunky but has a whole lot of information about what’s going on in the sky. There are satellites passing overhead all day and night, of course, but if you search, make sure to click “visible passes” to get a manageable list.