8/30/10
(Amended 9/2/10 to add Bewick's Wren; other text not changed.)
It was a beautiful day with the temperature at 71 F, but the birds did
not exactly cooperate. We observed 12 species, which was right on
the median for a week 35, but apparently a hair below the average,
so we wound up with a negative walk score.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
In these situations and in other situations in life, it's
hard for me to distinguish being lucky from being unlucky. For example,
when a plane goes down and all survive, were the passengers
lucky to have survived or were they unlucky to be on a plane
that crashed in the first place? I think that may be a conundrum,
but I'd have to look up the definition to be sure. In any case,
in our case, one could say we were lucky to get 12 species since we
saw a couple of birds we don't see too often, the Turkey Vulture
and the California Towhee. On the other hand we were unlucky since
we didn't see the Rock Pigeon, the Mockingbird, the House Sparrow, or
the House Finch. Or at least a couple of them.
We are moving steadily towards high season. In a couple of weeks
the medians will all be above 15 to the end of the year
and the record highs will be above 21. The warblers will soon be here.
Due to the Labor Day holiday next Monday, and a doctor's appointment
I somehow scheduled for noon on Tuesday, I'm scheduling
next week's walk on Wednesday. Hope that works for a bunch of you.
The date: 08/30/10
The week number: 35
The walk number: 1054
The weather: 71 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Mark Scheel, Darren Dowell, Kent Potter
The birds (13):
Scrub Jay
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Lesser Goldfinch
Turkey Vulture
California Towhee
Black Phoebe
House Wren
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Bushtit
Bewick's Wren>br>
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/1/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html
8/23/10
Darren and I braved the heat and completed the walk. We didn't do too well.
We got 11 species, two below the median for a week 34, giving us
a negative walk score. Ok, so this is how summers are supposed to be.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
It's easy to see what went wrong. We didn't get a Rock Pigeon,
a Mockingbird, a House Sparrow, or a House Finch. Good grief.
And it wasn't for lack of eyeballs. I'm sure if
those birds were out there, Darren would have at
least heard them. I guess they could have been there in the shade
somewhere and not speaking because it was too hot to talk.
Did I say it was hot?
The date: 08/23/10
The week number: 34
The walk number: 1053
The weather: 93 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Darren Dowell
The birds (11):
Scrub Jay
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Black Phoebe
Raven
Lesser Goldfinch
Bushtit
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Red-masked Parakeet
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
8/25/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html
8/16/10
Well, we didn't think we were doing all that well during the walk.
We got 14 species. I guess we forgot how summers are supposed to be.
It turns out 14 broke the record high for week 33 by 1! So, we did
great.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
The Band-tailed Pigeon was back on the nest.
Quite a few of the regular walkers will be out the next couple of weeks,
(Beth, John, and Viveca to name three) so if the some of the other local
walkers can join me, I'd appreciate it. I kmow it's hot, but we are
still setting records!
The date: 08/16/10
The week number: 33
The walk number: 1052
The weather: 85 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Viveca Sapin_Areeda, John Beckett
The birds (14):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Black Phoebe
Lesser Goldfinch
Band-tailed Pigeon
Bushtit
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Swift, sp.
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
8/19/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html
8/9/10
Viveca reports that the group had a very good birdwalk.
They saw 15 species, which tied the record high for a week 32.
Congratulations to them!
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
The hightlight bird was an Ash-throated Flycatcher, which
was in Tournament Park, and everyone got a good long look at it.
She also reports that the Band-tailed Pigeon is no
longer on the nest.
Another special highlight was the return of Fiona Tindall-Kwak
to the walk. Fiona is no longer at Caltech and she last walked on 2/24/09.
I'm sorry I was not able to be there to welcome her back.
The date: 08/09/10
The week number: 32
The walk number: 1051
The weather: 77 F, sunny
The walkers: Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Fiona Tindall-Kwak, John Beckett, Vicky Brennan
The birds (15):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Red-masked Parakeet
Bushtit
California Towhee
Lesser Goldfinch
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Band-tailed Pigeon
Black Phoebe
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
8/12/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html