Caltech Birding

4/26/05

It was a beautiful day for a bird walk. Mostly sunny, about 72 F. We saw an interesting set of birds. Not a week 17 record, however. The week 17 record was set in 2003 when we recorded 24 species. Today we bagged 19, still well above average. See the birds_epoch plot at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.

We saw the 4th ever campus sighting of a Violet-green Swallow. The other sightings were in 1993, 1996, and 1999. From that sequence we should have seen one in 2002, but we didn't. However, we now appear to be back on the every three year track. So expect to see one next in 2008.

We also saw a very yellow warbler. I got a fair look at it and have decided to record it as a Yellow Warbler. I did not see a black cap on top of the head, so I don't think it was a Wilson's.

Other birds of interest included a Bewick's Wren and White-throated Swifts.

The stats:
The date: 4/26/05
The week number: 17
The walk number: 781
The weather: 72 F, mostly sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter, Carolyn Ash
The birds (19):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
White-throated Swift
Starling
Yellow Warbler
Violet-green Swallow
Bewick's Wren
Bushtit
Band-tailed Pigeon
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Black Phoebe
Raven

Respectfully submitted,
Alan
4/26/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

4/19/05

Wow! I hate to keep using that word, but lately things have been happening. Last week it was the B-2 bomber. This week it was the ... Hermit Warbler. It was the 3rd sighting of a Hermit Warbler on the Caltech bird walks. We saw one in week 35 of 2002 and one in week 17 of 2000. The walk today was in week 16, so about right for a migrant. We didn't see all that many species today, only 17. The record for week 16 was set in 2003 when we saw 24 species. See the birds_epoch plot at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.

But we did get some other quality birds. In addition to the rare Hermit Warbler, we saw a Warbling Vireo. We have seen those on only 15 ot the 779 other walks, so not as rare as the Hermit Warbler, but still a good bird. We also saw a Bewick's Wren and we saw the adult Ravens feeding 2 chicks in their nest above President Baltimore's office. No Yellow-rumped Warblers today; I think we may have seen the last of them until September. All in all, a pretty neat birding day.

The stats:
The date: 4/19/05
The week number: 16
The walk number: 780
The weather: 65 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Glenn Hamell
The birds (17):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
White-throated Swift
Hermit Warbler
Bushtit
Bewick's Wren
Warbling Vireo
Starling
Black Phoebe
Raven

Respectfully submitted,
Alan
4/19/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

4/12/05

Wow! No, not wow in the sense that we saw an all time record number of birds today or even a record number for week 15 of a year. Wow as in big bird, wow. Big metal bird. As in B-2 bomber. Not once but 6 or 7 times around, starting about 12:30 pm and still going in circles around Caltech when we closed the bird walk down a bit after 1 pm. The B-2 is seen in these parts only on New Year's Day, when it buzzes the crowd down Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena at the start of the Rose Parade and then usually once again a few hours later at the kickoff of the Rose Bowl game. But today, it apparently got word of our bird walk and came out to give us a thrill.

The B-2 distracted us a lot. At first we cracked a few jokes about it and speculated that maybe it was an MIT prank as Caltech seemed to be the center of attention. But the last buzz it did was disturbingly low and it was in a big turn and losing altitude and I turned to Kent and announced I was now concerned. Maybe a terrorist was behind the wheel. Maybe he wants to do in the bird walk. As far as we know, about the only thing the B-2 can do is drop bombs. So, we retreated to the safety of our buildings and offices.

It was another beautiful day in Southern California -- again -- about 76 F and sunny. We saw 17 species, which wasn't bad but not a record of any sort. The record for week 15 is 22 established in 2003. See the birds_epoch plot at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm. We saw scads of Bushtits, more Bushtits than I can remember seeing on a bird walk. They seemed to be everywhere.

The stats:
The date: 4/12/05
The week number: 15
The walk number: 779
The weather: 76 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter
The birds (17):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
Cooper's Hawk
Raven
Bushtit
White-throated Swift
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mallard
Yellow-rumped Warbler

Respectfully submitted,
Alan
4/12/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

4/5/05

It was a beautiful day in Southern California -- again -- about 72 F and sunny. I would say the Mockingbirds have declared that Spring is here. We saw a number of them singing. They had been pretty scarce recently but not today.

We had a fair bird day, recording 21 species. That's not bad for week 14 of the year but way off the record of 26 seen last year. If you are wondering what the all-time record for any week is, it's 28 seen on two occasions, in week 8 of 1990 and week 9 of 2003. In 1990 the walkers were me, Ernie Franzgrote, Jim Campbell, Sandy Frey, and Tom Garrard. In 2003, the walkers were me, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter, and Jon Feenstra. In addition, we've had two walks with 27 species recorded. All the real high counts were in the early part of the year. See the birds_epoch plot at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.

The highlight bird was the Black-throated Gray Warbler, seen just exiting Tournament Park. Kent and I let one get away in the maintenance yard. It was most likely a Hermit Thrush or a Bewick's Wren, but we didn't see enough of the bird to call it. However, we did discover a new fence we should peek over on future walks. We just hope we don't meet a pair of human eyeballs staring back at us when we do.

The stats:
The date: 4/5/05
The week number: 14
The walk number: 778
The weather: 72 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter
The birds (21):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Mallard
White-throated Swift
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Band-tailed Pigeon
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Bushtit
Lesser Goldfinch
Starling
Red-tailed Hawk
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Raven

Respectfully submitted,
Alan
4/5/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu