8/26/08
We are stuck on 9. We've gotten 9 species for three straight
weeks. Fortunately, on this walk, 9 was not a record low.
Seven is the record low for a week 35. The median for
week 35 is 12. So we didn't do great but we didn't
have a disastrous walk or even a near-disastrous one.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
And it started so well. We got 3 species out of one
tree in Tournament Park. But then it fell quiet.
I heard that West Nile killed a woman recently in
Buena Park. Maybe it's knocking out some of our birds.
We didn't see Acorn Woodpecker for the first time in awhile.
We were good on Band-tailed Pigeon though. Saw lots of those.
The stats:
The date: 8/26/08
The week number: 35
The walk number: 950
The weather: 87F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Simon Radford, Beth Moore, Kent Potter
The birds (9):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Crow
Band-tailed Pigeon
Lesser Goldfinch
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Bushtit
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
8/27/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
8/19/08
If children are taught to be seen and not heard, birds must be taught
to be heard and not seen. At least that would appear to be the case
with all the birds we heard today. I believe we may have put in an
all-time-low for week 34 with only 9 birds spotted. Our highlight
was a Black-chinned Hummingbird; we spent some time late in the walk
scrutinizing a bird in a mixed flock that looked a lot like a Hermit
Thrush but it is the wrong time of year for them. Ashish and his
powerful binoculars had left us by that time so that bird will have
to remain a mystery.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
The stats:
The date: 8/19/08
The week number: 34
The walk number: 949
The weather: 80F, sunny
The walkers: Ashish Mahabal, Darren Dowell, Glenn Hamell, Beth Moore,
Viveca Sapin-Areeda
The birds (9):
Rock Pigeon
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Bushtit
Black Phoebe
-- Beth
Note added by submitter: Unfortunately, this was a record low for week 34,
by one. Things should pick up soon, although the all-time record
low (6) happened during upcoming week 37.
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
8/22/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
8/12/08
What a near disaster and what a difference a week makes.
We set the record high for a week 32 last week and this week
we tied the record low for a week 33. We got 9 species.
Viveca saved us from setting the record low by emailing
in a House Finch she spotted on the way back to her office.
Whew, close one!
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
Not a lot of highlights when you have only 9
birds to talk about. So let's talk about something else.
It was the 948th walk and we are up to 3103
person-walks total since the beginning in 1986.
We are averaging 5.15 persons per walk this year,
2nd highest average -- last year's was the highest at 5.77 per walk.
It was Glenn's 335th walk, 2nd all-time. That's a lot
of walks folks. We have 8 walkers who have walked more than 100 walks.
Only 3 are active, me with 831, Glenn, and Kent, who has
logged 255 walks. Ok, that's all for now.
The stats:
The date: 8/12/08
The week number: 33
The walk number: 948
The weather: 80F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Beth Moore, Viveca Sapin-Areeda
The birds (9):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Hummingbird, sp.
Bushtit
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
8/12/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
8/05/08
I suspect that my fellow walkers will be very surprised to
learn that we set the all-time record for a week 32 of the year.
After we exited Tournament Park with 4 on the list, Glenn
said we might be going for the all-time low. But things
picked up, gradually, and by the time Viveca called
in Ravens on her way back to the office, we had
15 on the list, one more than the record high for a week 32.
Congratulations to ourselves!
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
Now what is there to highlight? We saw all the regulars,
which doesn't happen so often anymore. I guess the best
bird was a spectacularly-colored Lesser Goldfinch
seen in the trees near Baxter. It was jabbering so much we
thought at first we were hearing Starlings. Fortunately,
we investigated further when the sounds were just
too much for a Starling.
The stats:
The date: 8/05/08
The week number: 32
The walk number: 947
The weather: 88F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Beth Moore, Kent Potter, Viveca Sapin-Areeda
The birds (15):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Red-tailed Hawk
Black Phoebe
Red-masked Parakeet
Bushtit
Lesser Goldfinch
Raven
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
8/07/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu