12/23/08

It was the final walk of the year and things didn't work out too well on the number of species side of things. We only got 18 species, one below the minimum ever seen for a week 52. So, we set a record in the wrong way. And we scored a -0.20189 for the walk, which put the score for the year at -0.0411. An average year would be zero, so 2008 was a bit below average.

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

On the other hand, we welcomed two new walkers, Eric and Reilly Dalleska, Nathan's children. They brought the total number of individual walkers to 105 and the cumulative number of person walks to 3216. There have been 968 walks since the first one on 15 October 1986, resulting in 3.3 persons per walk on average. This year we averged 5.44 persons per walk, second highest all time. Last year was a shade higher at 5.77.

And we had a couple of real good bird highlights. The first was a Red-whiskered Bulbul, heard but not seen this time. Beth was very confident of the call as she has plenty in her backyard. But the stellar highlight was the Red-breasted Sapsucker, seen in a tree just South of Avery near Admissions. He or she was far from the sapsucker tree in Tournament Park but that was OK with us.

Happy Holidays to all!

The stats:
The date: 12/23/08
The week number: 52
The walk number: 968
< The weather: 54F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Jim Carlblom, Beth Moore, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Nathan Dalleska, Erin Dalleska, Reilly Dalleska, Darren Dowell

The birds (18):

Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black Phoebe
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Cedar Waxwing
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Bushtit
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Raven

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
12/23/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

12/16/08

Alan was on travel and it was a nippy walk; but the rain held off and we did pretty well, slowly and steadily. We kept trying to see Cedar Waxwings but were vexed until the end of the walk when we finally saw them in the Sycamore tree in front of the house of many uses on Holliston. We had a pair of Yellow-chevroned parakeets fly over early in the walk and the highlight, at least for this reporter, was the Hermit Thrush that was sitting prettily in the grove near IPAC.

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: 12/16/08
The week number: 51
The walk number: 967
The weather: 54F, with dramatic clouds
The walkers: Chris Martin, Glenn Hamell, Matt Bradford, Kent Potter, Nathan Dalleska, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Beth Moore

The birds (20):

Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Red-tailed Hawk
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Black Phoebe
Bushtit
Raven

-- Beth Moore

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
12/18/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

12/9/08

We had a good birdwalk. For one thing, the weather was nice, 64F and sunny, For another, we reached the 3200 mark on mumber of person-walks accomplished. And we saw birds. We got 19 species, three above the median for a week 50 and resulting in a walk score of +0.9705. Nineteen was the highest number of birds seen on a walk since week 20, way back on 13 May 2008.

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

We had some highlights. We saw our first Gull in quite a while. And we got into a real hot spot just after leaving Tournament Park. We saw Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Orange-crowned Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, and Cedar Waxwings, all essentially co-located. It was neat.

The stats:
The date: 12/9/08
The week number: 50
The walk number: 966
The weather: 64F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Fiona Tindall, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Beth Moore

The birds (19):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Gull, sp.
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-tailed Hawk
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Orange-crowned Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Cedar Waxwing
Black Phoebe
Bushtit
Raven

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
12/10/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

12/2/08

We had a sensational number of walkers (10) and one new walker to boot, Mariella Pellegrino. Mariella becomes the 103rd walker to walk the Caltech birdwalk. Welcome to the Caltech birdwatching world, Mariella! She also brings the cumulative number of person-walks to a whopping 3195.

The walk was a good one and scored higher than any walk since week 32. We scored a whopping 0.85279. Hooray for us, a positive walk! We observed 18 species, when the average for the week is 15.57 and the median is 16.

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

I would say the main highlight is that we almost got all of the "regulars". We only missed the Scrub Jay out of the group of nine that used to be a lock.

The stats:
The date: 12/2/08
The week number: 49
The walk number: 965
The weather: 63F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Fiona Tindall, Barbara Ellis, Jim Carlblom, Darren Dowell, Mariella Pellegrino, Beth Moore

The birds (18):

Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Black Phoebe
Red-tailed Hawk
Cedar Waxwing
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Band-tailed Pigeon
Bushtit
Lesser Goldfinch
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Townsend's Warbler

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
12/4/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu