Caltech Birding

4/30/07
We had a good walk. We observed the 2nd most in week 18 history. We got 22 species, one short of the record 23 seen in week 18 of 2002. See the species vs time plot at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html.

I think we could have broken the record if one Jon Feenstra had been along. The birds were singing and there were some really distinctive calls that we heard but we couldn't find the bird. So I think we left one or two in the field, as they say. Jon would have identified those in an instant.

Among the highlights were the House Wren, the Bewick's Wren, the Ash-throated Flycatcher, Wilson's Warbler, Hermit Thrush, and a pair of Red-whiskered Bulbuls. A lot of this happened early in the walk and hence we spent a lot of time studying these birds and looking in the book. And we had to fret over the ones we could hear but not see. So, we had to pick up the walking pace a notch in the 2nd half of the walk. Someone commented that the birds seemed quieter in the 2nd half. Kent thought it was maybe due to the speed I was walking. Perhaps we Doppler-shifted the songs out of our hearing range. Anyway, a good time was had by all -- I think.

The stats:
The date: 4/30/07
The week number: 18
The walk number: 881
The weather: 75F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Ashish Mahabal, Beth Moore, Carolyn Ash

The birds (22):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
Red-tailed Hawk
Raven
Bewick's Wren
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Ash-throated Flycatcher
House Wren
Bushtit
Wilson's Warbler
Cooper's Hawk
Hermit Thrush
Black Phoebe
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/30/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

4/24/07
This is a good news/bad news report. First of all, we had a good walk. We recorded 21 species, good for 2nd place for a week 17. First place is 24 seen in 2003. See the species vs time plot at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html.

The bad news is that I led our fellow walkers to believe we had added a new bird to the Caltech list when in fact after a little research I found we hadn't. The bird was the Cassin's Vireo, which we saw on Wilson. It turns out that sometime ago, the Solitary Vireo was split into the Cassin's, Blue-headed, and Plumbeous. Cassin's is the one we see on the west coast. We had seen Solitray vireo in 1989 and again in 1997. It's still a good bird, this being only the 3rd recording on a Caltech bird walk.

The good news is that Cassin's Vireo is a new bird on my personl life list. For some reason I had never marked down a Solitary Vireo on my list, which I had seen at least twice on the Caltech bird walks. So, hooray for me!

Other birds of note were the Western Kingbird, Black-throated Gray Warbler (found in two locations on campus), House Wren, and a Black-headed Grosbeak. It was only the 5th time we had seen a Black-headed Grosbeak on campus. Thanks to Glenn for spotting that one.

As predicted in last week's report we did not see a Yellow-rumped Warbler. They are gone for the summer season. Expect them back no earlier than week 39.

The stats:
The date: 4/24/07
The week number: 17
The walk number: 880
The weather: 73F, sunny The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Beth Moore, Chris Martin

The birds (21):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Bushtit
Starling
Western Kingbird
Band-tailed Pigeon
House Wren
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Cassin's Vireo
Black Phoebe
Raven
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Black-headed Grosbeak
Red-tailed Hawk

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/24/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

4/17/07
It was an interesting but somewhat frustrating walk. The preponderance of white puffy clouds made the seeing conditions difficult, and at one point early in the going we had left two birds unidentified in the field. We may have recouped those later however. The most incredible thing is that we once again, for the second week in a row, ADDED A NEW SPECIES to the Caltech list. The odds of this are pretty small. See the species vs time plot at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html. The new bird is a Common Peafowl. We saw 5 males just off Holliston.

We observed a total of 18 species, 6 short of the record 24 observed in 2003. See the two plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm. Our downfall was the lack of common birds. We did not see a Rock Pigeon, a Scrub Jay, a Mourning Dove, or an Acorn Woodpecker. We did see, though, another Barn Swallow, a Northern Rough-winged Swallow, a Black-throated Gray Warbler, and a Wilson's Warbler. So those compensated.

Next week is week 17 when according to the 20 year records there should be no chance whatsoever of seeing a Yellow-rumped Warbler. We shall see if that holds true. We barely got one today.

The stats:
The date: 4/17/07
The week number: 16
The walk number: 879
The weather: 66F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Beth Moore, Simon Radford, Carolyn Ash

The birds (18):

Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Crow
Bushtit
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Lesser Goldfinch
Swift, sp.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Starling
Hawk, sp.
Barn Swallow
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Common Peafowl
Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/17/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

4/10/07
It was a very nice day for a bird walk. It was sunny and about 70F and we put together a great walk. We observed 24 species, in second place for a week 15. The record for week 15 is 29 seen last year. See the two plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.

But even better than that is that WE ADDED A NEW SPECIES! Just before entering the locked portion of the maintenance yard, we were confronted with a bunch of swallows and a swift. The swallows were mostly Violet-green Swallows but there was one Barn Swallow, and that was new for the Caltech list. I also spotted a Vaux's Swift in the crowd. They appeared to be attracted to a swarm of dragon flies hovering above the maintenance yard, although I didn't see a swallow nab one.

We were slowed down by the swallows but we also had to spend a little extra time identifying a Pacific-slope Flycatcher in the maintenance yard. Brendan thinks he might have seen yet another species of small flycatcher in the same yard, but those empidonaxes are tough, so we didn't try to put down a second one.

We also welcomed the 87th walker to the Caltech bird walks, Justin Taslak, son of Beth Moore. I hope he enjoyed the experience because it doesn't get much better than today's walk.

The stats:
The date: 4/10/07
The week number: 15
The walk number: 878
The weather: 70F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Simon Radford, Brendan Crill, Beth Moore, Justin Taslak

The birds (24):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Lesser Goldfinch
Violet-green Swallow
Vaux's Swift
Cooper's Hawk
Bushtit
Barn Swallow
Spotted Towhee
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Raven
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Starling
Black Phoebe
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Band-tailed Pigeon

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/10/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

4/3/07
What a banner day! It was a pleasant 68 F when we started the walk and the birds were a chirping. Oliver James was in the area on spring break and came along and helped us set the record for week 14 of a year. We had 29 species. Until last year that would have set the all-time record, which now stands at 31 set in week 13 of 2006. See the two plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm. We got 29 and we didn't see a Rock Pigeon! If we could have gotten that one, Cedar Waxwings, which are still around but we didn't see them, and let's say a Bewick's Wren or another woodpecker, we'd have had the all-time record. If, if, if...

We heard what we were pretty sure were Red-whiskered Bulbuls and I confirmed the call when I returned to my office and listened to them at a website that Brendan came up with (http://birdsinbackyards.net/images/audio/pycnonotus-jocosus.mp3). This was the 7th time we recorded Red-whiskered Bulbuls on the Caltech walks. The other big highlight was the Western Kingird. They were seen flying around at two or three points on the walk. That was only the 4th time they have been recorded. We saw a big variety of warblers too. Quite a day!

The stats:
The date: 4/3/07
The week number: 14
The walk number: 877
The weather: 68F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Beth Moore, Oliver James, Brendan Crill, Carolyn Ash

The birds (29):

Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
Lesser Goldfinch
Bushtit
Spotted Towhee
Townsend's Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Red-whiskered Bulbul
House Wren
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Cooper's Hawk
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Wilson's Warbler
Red-tailed Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Western Kingbird
Black Phoebe
Band-tailed Pigeon
Raven
White-throated Swift

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/3/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu