The fall hummingbird migration is on

 

 

It just showed up today.  All of a sudden, instead of an occasional hummingbird or two, we’ll have 10 or 15 all at once.  I put out more feeders so they can chase each other back and forth between them.

 

I can’t get very many in the frame all at once.

 

I’ll have to stake-out for some better pictures.

 

We let Merlin, the bird I.D. app on the phone, listen to pick out which hummingbirds we’re getting.  Most of them are ruby-throated, but we still have the resident buff-bellied, and the occasional black-chinned and rufous.

 

One more thing

 

 

Driving (riding) in the Tesla.

 

It doesn’t need me.  All it needs to know is where I want to go and then I become superfluous.  An image comes to mind of our kids in booster chairs in the back seat with the pretend steering wheel in front of them, spinning the wheel and driving like crazy, having absolutely no impact on what is really happening.  That’s me.  Pretend driving now.

 

 

 

 

Dog day afternoon

 

 

 

For a squirrel.

 

Walking along that fence must be exhausting!

 

 

 

Common Mergansers

 

 

 

Fish eating diving ducks.  They hunt cooperatively in groups like this.

 

These mergansers were working upstream past us while we were in Yellowstone.

 

They don’t nest on the ground like other ducks, they nest high up in trees in cavities.  When the babies hatch, the first thing they have to do is jump out of the tree to the ground or water below.  At one day old!

 

Black-capped Chickadee

 

 

 

Loving him some suet.

 

But then, who doesn’t?

 

 

Places

 

 

We travel all over the U.S. and we see all these places.  And each place has a name.  New England.  New York.  St. Louis.  Denver.  Longs Peak.  Pikes Peak.  San Francisco.  All these places were “discovered” and named by “explorers” in the last few hundred years.

 

So we, the people of European descent, “explore” our way across an entire continent, which is already populated.  (The pre-“discovery” population of the Americas is estimated to be about 50 million to 100 million.)  And when we roll into town and encounter a distinctive place or feature, what do we do?  Do we ask the people who have been here for ten thousand years, “Hey, what’s the name of this place?”  Not often.  We say “Wow, look what we discovered”, and make up a name for it.

 

Does that make any sense?

 

 

 

I was just thinking

 

 

About Tesla Full Self Driving.  With the latest update, we can put in a destination before the car has even moved, push “go”, and the car takes us there with no further input.  It even picks out a parking spot when we get there, parks, and stops.  Nothing else happens, it just sits there with the climate control running, until we get out of the car and walk away.  Then the car rolls up the windows (if they’re down), shuts off the heat or air conditioning, folds in the mirrors, and locks itself.  Very cool.

 

So, let’s do a what-if.  What if a person goes to a fiesta, gets hammered, gets back in their car and pushes the button for home.   That would be a lot like calling a cab, which is what drinking drivers are advised to do, but it’s not a cab it’s the driver’s own car.  What would the law say?  Should that person be cited for driving under the influence, because they are the presumed driver of their own car, or lauded for being responsible and getting behind the wheel, but not actually driving?

 

 

White-breasted Nuthatch

 

 

 

 

Like red-breasted nuthatches, white-breasted nuthatches can move in any direction up and down a tree.  This one spent more time right-side-up for us than the red-breasted one we sent pictures of a few weeks back though. 

 

 

Window covers

 

 

They work great when they’re up

 

But the attachment mechanism is a problem.  When the window covers aren’t up, all those metal bits stuck on the glass to line up with the magnets in the shades; visual clutter.  It’s distracting.

 

We have a solution in mind.  Replace the individual metal pieces with black metal strips that run along the top, bottom, and sides of the windows.  The strips would disappear into the black borders that are already there.  Being continuous strips, they would provide even more secure attachment points than the individual pieces do now.

 

To test the theory, we got some black electrical tape that’s the same width as the individual pieces we have already stuck on.  We ran the tape down over the metal pieces in (mostly) straight lines.  That worked!  The attachment points almost disappeared by comparison. 

 

A big improvement.  Next step is to source some thin metal strips of varying lengths, or get them cut to size, for each window.  Then I can stick them on with the same high temperature adhesive that came with our window cover kit, and we’ll call it good.

 

Pop Quiz

 

 

This little spot on our deck.

 

Is it a grasshopper, or something else?

 

 

 

Answer below.

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Answer:

 

Something else.

 

There are several other critters that look like grasshoppers but aren’t.  Katydids, Crickets, and Locusts.  The beauty pictured above is an adult Katydid.

 

Patterns in nature

 

 

 

Exposed weathered roots and fresh ground cover.

 

 

 

Spotted Towhee

 

 

 

 

Up to his ears in suet!

 

 

It’s that time of year

 

 

 

 

A few more flowers

 

 

I didn’t ever get to send out the rest of the pictures from Christie’s yard in Edmonds.  Here is the last batch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you spot the moth on this tree trunk?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Google Images says it an Underwing Moth.  They’re named for the bright underwings that are normally hidden.

(Not my image.)

 

We make the computer setup work while we’re on the road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But it’s so nice to be home to the full-size keyboard and the big curved monitor.

 

So much workspace on that screen to work with.

 

I was just thinking

 

 

Sixty years ago, Judy and I got married.

 

Sixty-five years ago, I was a 15-year-old kid on a bicycle delivering newspapers.

 

 

Thursday

 

 

We were going to stay at South Llano River for a couple nights, but the heat is wearing us down.  (And by “us” I mean “me”.)  We drove on to Choke Canyon State Park for our last night out.

 

2026 Summer Trip Map link

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to get home to the air conditioning.  We can still be out in the heat there, but we can ration our exposure better from home base.

 

 

And now it’s Friday, and we’re there.

 

2026 Summer Trip Map link

 

Two and a half months.  Nine thousand miles.  It’s good to be home.

 

We’re planning our next trip.