4/26/10

Wow, what a walk! It could be argued that it was the 2nd best walk ever. First of all, we got 29 species, 4 above the previous record for a week 17, and just 2 short of the all time record of 31 for any week. Now, there have been two walks of 30 species observed and two others with 29 species, but this walk scored the 2nd highest walk score of all time, a 2.9399. The top score was the walk of 3/30/2006, when we scored a 3.10979 and saw the most species in a walk, 31. So, clearly the 3/30/2006 walk is number one all time, but I would judge this one second best out of 1036 walks. So, it was a momentous walk.

See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

And we had a spectacular best bird, a Black-headed Grosbeak. This was the first sighting of one of those since 2007 and the 6th in the history of the walks. And we saw all the so-called "regulars". I don't know when the last time that happened was. I'd have to consult the listing sheets for this year to see if it has happened in 2010. If not, the last time was 12/28/2009. And we saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler, the first time that has happened in a week 17 in the history of the walks. They should be gone until at least week 38.

Fortunately, we had a pretty big group of nine walkers to enjoy the events of the day.

The date: 4/26/10
The week number: 17
The walk number: 1036
The weather: 73 F, sunny

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Beth Moore, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Kent Potter, Mark Scheel, John Beckett, Darren Dowell, Chris Martin, Ashish Mahabal

The birds (29):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Band-tailed Pigeon
Bushtit
Spotted Towhee
Mallard
Starling
Lesser Goldfinch
Black Phoebe
White-throated Swift
Cedar Waxwing
Red-tailed Hawk
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
House Wren
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Dark-eyed Junco
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Raven
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-headed Grosbeak

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/26/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

4/19/10
Well...let's see. Beth forgot the keys to the maintenance yard. John courageously offered to hop over the fence but Beth declined said offer. It seemed like we wouldn't get very many birds but in the end we saw 22 species. Not too bad considering no maintenance yard additions.

It took a while to get that many. Highlights would have to be the a Red-tailed Hawk spotted by Viveca toward the end of the walk and two birds spotted by Beth at the corner of San Pasqual and Hill - a Scrub Jay at the beginning of the walk and a Mourning Dove at the end. How long has it been since we got a Scrub Jay?

See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

The date: 4/19/10
The week number: 16
The walk number: 1035
The weather: 70 F, sunny
The walkers: Beth Moore, John Beckett, Viveca Sapin-Areeda
The birds (22):

Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Scrub Jay
Crow
Starling
California Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Lesser Goldfinch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-tailed Hawk
Bushtit
House Wren
Bewick's Wren
Black Phoebe
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Raven

-- Beth Moore

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/24/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

4/12/10
We did and we didn't; and maybe we did and, then again, maybe we didn't.

We did see quite a number of our regulars and some pretty special birds to boot: Yellow-headed Parrot and Yellow-chevroned Parakeet; a full House [Sparrow, Finch, and Wren]; the craven pair [Crow and Raven]; two kinds of Towhees; a White-throated [Swift] and a Black-throated Gray [Warbler]; and by gosh a Great Egret flying above! All we seemed to be missing was a Partridge in a Pear Tree. Well, not exactly.

We didn't see: Rock Pigeon and Scrub Jay. I'll throw a party when we see those two again.

Maybe we saw and maybe we didn't see a Swainson's Hawk soaring very high above with some Turkey Vultures. Ditto for a pair of Sharp-shinned Hawks.

All in all we saw 27 species. It would have been 29 if we could have counted those other two.

See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

The date: 4/12/10
The week number: 15
The walk number: 1034
The weather: 59 F, overcast with breaks of sun

The walkers: Kent Potter, Mark Scheel, Beth Moore, John Beckett, Viveca Sapin-Areeda

The birds (27):

Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
Band-tailed Pigeon
California Towhee
Spotted Towhee
White-throated Swift
Cooper's Hawk
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Lesser Goldfinch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-tailed Hawk
Bushtit
House Wren
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Black Phoebe
Turkey Vulture
Great Egret
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Yellow-headed Parrot
Raven

-- Beth Moore

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/24/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

4/6/10
Another nice day and another good walk. We observed 25 species, good for a positive walk score of 1.51545. 2010 is on track to be the best-scoring year ever.

See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

A Black-throated Gray Warbler was spotted and a Turkey Vulture flew over. And finally a Starling appeared at the right time to be counted. Otherwise, a lot of regulars showed up, except Rock Pigeon and Scrub Jay. Same situation as last week. All is well.

The date: 4/6/10
The week number: 14
The walk number: 1033
The weather: 63 F, sunny

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Mark Scheel, Beth Moore, John Beckett, Viveca Sapin-Areeda

The birds (25):

Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
White-throated Swift
Cooper's Hawk
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Lesser Goldfinch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Bushtit
House Wren
American Goldfinch
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Black Phoebe
Turkey Vulture
Cedar Waxwing
Swallow, sp.
Raven
Mallard

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/8/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu