4/25/06
Pretty frustrating walk. I'd say we missed a couple. And that
is over and above the two I had to call Swallow, sp.
and Warbler, sp. We still saw 20 species and that winds up
in second place for a week 17 of a year, behind only 2003 when
we saw 24 species. So, this year is still really exceptional.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
Birds of interest were the House Wren, still near its nest in
Tournament Park, a female Black-throated Gray Warbler,
one male Mallard, and a Spotted Towhee, singing its heart out in a tree.
Probably the most interesting was the Warbler, sp., which
was very active, had a lot of yellow going on, particularly on the face,
and maybe some greenish coloration and was making a most peculiar sound.
It just flitted too much and didn't stay around long
enough for me to identify it.
The stats:
The date: 4/25/06
The week number: 17
The walk number: 831
The weather: 63 F, cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Jim Carlblom, Barbara Ellis
The birds (20):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Mallard
Starling
Raven
Black Phoebe
Spotted Towhee
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Swallow, sp.
Band-tailed Pigeon
Warbler, sp.
House Wren
Bushtit
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/25/06
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
4/18/06
How convenient! There is now a House Wren nest in Tournament
Park, complete with adult and baby House Wrens. It's in
a hole in a Chinese Elm tree. And, of course,
we also have the Raven nest with three baby Ravens in
a niche on the north side of Parsons-Gates building
above the President's Office. So, we have a lock on those
two species for a while.
It was a good walk. We did not set any records but
we came close. We placed second for a week 16 of a year,
recording 22 species. The record for week 16 is 24 in 2003.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
Other good birds we saw were a Rufous or Allen's Hummingbird,
one lonely Yellow-rumped Warbler holdout, and a spectacular American
Goldfinch. It's getting late in the season for the latter two.
Looking at the probability plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/probability_plots.htm.
week 16 is the last week to see yellow-rumps and they
won't be back until week 40. American Goldfinches, on the other hand,
have been known to holdout until week 17 and come back as
early as week 31.
The stats:
The date: 4/18/06
The week number: 16
The walk number: 830
The weather: 73 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Jim Carlblom, Barbara Ellis,
Kent Potter, Simon Radford
The birds (22):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
White-throated Swift
Bushtit
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Band-tailed Pigeon
Cooper's Hawk
House Wren
Black Phoebe
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Warbler, sp. (maybe Black-throated Gray)
Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Goldfinch
Raven
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/18/06
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
4/13/06
I could not make the walk this week and what a pity. The team
that did walk added a new bird to the Caltech list, the White-tailed Kite.
That was the first bird added since 5/20/03, when we added the Willow Flycatcher.
The team also had a great day, numbers-wise. They recorded 29 species,
which smashed the previous record for a week 15 by 7 species!
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
Wow, what a year we have been having! Thirty is the all-time record
and that has been reached twice this year. They almost did it again on
this walk. Congratulations to the walkers of 4/13/06.
It was also a day of old and new in the birder department. My apologies
to Bill Schaefer, the old birder, but he is a lot older than
the new birder, Oliver James, who walked his first walk. Oliver
is a teenager, I believe. Bill is somewhat older and now retired
emeritus from Caltech and living up north. He gets down
once in a while for the walk. It was Bill's 104th walk and 2nd this year.
Sorry I couldn't be along to see Bill again and to greet the new walker.
I think Oliver was visiting his grandparents in town,
so he may not be a regular walker, but he's welcome anytime,
especially if he is going to help bring good luck.
The stats:
The date: 4/13/06
The week number: 15
The walk number: 829
The weather: 82 F, sunny
The walkers: Glenn Hamell, Brendan Crill, Kent Potter, Simon Radford,
Carolyn Ash, Oliver James, Jon Feenstra, Bill Schaefer
The birds (29):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-throated Swift
Band-tailed Pigeon
Cooper's Hawk
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Raven
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Bushtit
Vaux's Swift
Black Phoebe
White-tailed Kite
House Wren
Bewick's Wren
Warbling Vireo
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Flycatcher, sp. (probably Hammond's)
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/14/06
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
4/6/06
A very good day for birds but the seeing conditions were not good.
There was a white cloud cover and looking up into it
made it hard to see the color pattern on the underneath
of the wings of two GOLDEN EAGLES that flew over!
Well, maybe. We finally decided they must have been Turkey Vultures
and the seeing conditions must have done us in because we didn't
see the familiar white pattern we were expecting, at least not clearly.
We had a new walker along, Jim Carlblom, and he is planning
to come along next week despite the fact we didn't look
exactly professional debating the Eagles vs Vulture situation.
After that debate had ended, we saw a flock of big birds circling overhead and
Kent asked me what I was going to call them... this time. We could
have used Jon! In fact, I said if Jon is not coming along, then
he needs to leave us a phone number where we can call
and say run outside, look up, what are those?
But we did pretty well. We got 24 species, 2nd best all-time for week 14
of a year. The birds continue to be plentiful.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
Looking over the list, I think it's only the vulture that's a little
weak. And maybe the Robin, which was on sound.
Everything else is solid. We were treated to Western Bluebirds
for the first time in a long time. We missed a bird that
darted over the fence in the maintenance yard, probably a Hermit Thrush.
We could have gotten all-time record type numbers if we'd bagged that one,
another woodpecker (just one of Downy, Nuttal's, or sapsucker), a Cooper's Hawk,
a Scrub Jay, and couple of warblers, such as Orange-crowned and Townsend's,
and one of the two wrens we've been seeing. All these are eminently possible.
Throw the Great Egret or Mallard Duck in there that's been hanging around
and you get to 32, one over the record. And what about swallows and swifts.
They've been around. It's doable. But pretty soon, the numbers will decline as
Spring fades into Summer. So enjoy it while you can.
The stats:
The date: 4/6/06
The week number: 14
The walk number: 828
The weather: 64 F, cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Brendan Crill, Kent Potter, Simon Radford, Jim Carlblom
The birds (24):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Western Bluebird
Starling
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Black Phoebe
White-crowned Sparrow
Band-tailed Pigeon
Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Turkey Vulture
Raven
Hummingbird, Selasphorus (probably Allen's)
Red-tailed Hawk
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Bushtit
Lesser Goldfinch
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/6/06
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu