04/30/04
We walked on Friday this week and we must have
caught the birds by surprise because we saw more
than expected. We bagged 19 species, which is
definitely above the historical average for
this time of year, although last year we did see
24 species at the end of April. That was unusual,
however (see the bird_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm).

We had a human highlight and a couple of bird
highlights. The human highlight was a new walker, Gina
Allen. She has a very good knack for seeing
birds bouncing around in the trees and also a good ear for
bird sounds. Welcome, Gina. She also is good at looking
in puddles of water while the rest of us stare up
into a tree. That was one of the bird highlights, as
a Robin was taking a bath in that puddle. We haven't seen
a Robin in awhile.

The other bird highlights were a Hooded Oriole over
near the Acorn Woodpecker zone and a threesome
of Vaux's Swifts flying overhead. Both of those
are relative rarities on the walks.

The three baby Ravens on the Raven nest aren't so
little anymore. They look like they are about ready
to fly out of their nest on Parsons-Gates.

The stats:
The date: 4/30/04
The walk number: 730
The weather: 72F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Matt Hunt, Gina Allen,
Catherine Lin, Kent Potter

The birds (19):

Rock Dove
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
Bushtit
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Band-tailed Pigeon
Hooded Oriole
Red-tailed Hawk
Vaux's Swift
Raven
American Robin
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
4/30/04

04/20/04


It was a very fine day for a bird walk. Temperature
was about 69F, clear skies. We had two new
birders join the walk: Doug Altshuler and Catherine Lin.
Catherine and Doug are participants number 64 and 65, respectively,
on these walks. Doug knows Ernie Franzgrote, of all people.
Ernie was the co-founder of these walks, way back in 1986. Doug
studies hummingbird flight and Ernie is a hummingbird
fanatic, so they've met up in the past. Catherine is a
researcher in biology.

We saw 18 species, which is a bit above average
for this time of year (see the bird_epoch plot
at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm).
Glenn had an especially good day, spotting the White-throated
Swifts for one thing. Three other highlights were a Bewick's Wren,
which popped up on a wire in plain view, Bushtits building
a nest near Avery House, and three baby Ravens in the
Raven nest on Parsons-Gates.

The stats:
The date: 4/20/04
The walk number: 729
The weather: 69F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hammel, Kelly Jung,
Matt Hunt, Doug Altshuler, Catherine Lin
The birds (18):

Rock Dove
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
White-throated Swift
Raven
Band-tailed Pigeon
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Bewick's Wren
Bushtit
Cedar Waxwing
Mallard

Respectfully submitted,
Alan
(revised 4/29/04)

04/13/04

Birders:

Walk number 728 went off without a hitch. The day was beautiful, temperature in the high 60's and clear as a bell. The major highlight was that a new walker appeared, Matt Hunt, a graduate student in Astrophysics. He stumbled upon our website ( http://birdwalks.caltech.edu) and decided to join in the fun. The main core group of birders were four in number: Alan Cummings, Kelly Jung, Glenn Hamell, and Matt Hunt. Jon Feenstra and Michael Graesser had their eyes and ears open wherever they were on campus during the noon hour and reported in by email.

We saw 20 for the day, 3 of which were emailed in from Jon. For this time in April, that's above average (see 2nd plot at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm).

By the way, we saw the Mallards, so Glenn's dog biscuit a few weeks back didn't kill them after all.

The date: 4/13/04 (but not a Friday!)
The walk number: 728
The weather: sunny, about 68F
The walkers: Alan, Kelly, Glenn, Matt (and Jon & Michael by email)

The birds:

Rock Dove
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Mallard
Starling
Raven
Bushtit
Hummingbird, Selasphorus (likely Allen's)
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Red-tailed Hawk
Band-tailed Pigeon
Yellow-rumped Warbler*
Lesser Goldfinch*
Cedar Waxwing*

* = from Jon via email

Respectfully submitted,
Alan

04/06/04

Birders:

An interesting day to say the least. Jom Feenstra walked and that usually is a good thing. And it was
again this time. We got 26 for the day, a record for April and a mark only achieved 9 other times in the preceding 726 walks that have taken place since they began on 10/10/86. And this was despite the fact that Tournament Park was closed due to a sewer problem. Who knows what would have happened if we could have gotten in there? The sapsucker tree might have produced a sapsucker, the White-crowned Sparrow that is often in the park might have shown up, and one of the migrant warblers that Jon has been seeing recently at Eaton Canyon might have been in there. With just 3 more we would have set the all-time record. The current record is 28.

By the way, due to a website malfunction (yes, we and Janet Jackson have some things in common),
last week's report only was posted starting last night. It will soon go to the archives section
when this report gets posted to http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/current_walk_report.htm).
I encourage you to check out the 3/30/04 report as it featured the return of the co-founder of the walks, Ernie Franzgrote.

The stats:
The weather: 60F, overcast (nice day for a walk)
The walkers: Alan, Jon, Kent, Glenn
The birds:

Rock Pigeon	Scrub Jay	Mockingbird
House Sparrow	Mourning Dove	House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird	Acorn Woodpecker	Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler	Starling	Raven
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet	Band-tailed Pigeon	Cedar Waxwing
Spotted Towhee	Black Phoebe	Bushtit
Selasphorus Hummingbird (probably an Allen's)	American Goldfinch	Orange-crowned Warbler
Red-tailed Hawk	White-throated Swift	Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Cooper's Hawk	Gull

Respectfully submitted,
Alan