2/23/05
This is a revised report. The original report is shown
below between the dashed lines. The revision follows it.
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The 8th walk of the year produced a new bird for the campus list!
Whilst we were in the maintenance yard, Kent said
"What's that?" I looked towards the north west and saw
a large hawk approaching. The bird had long wings and a long
narrow tail. It was making deep strokes with the wings.
I was beginning to see white near the base
of the tail and then it flew over us and turned and
dove in a steep glide on something. During the dive
I could clearly see white at the rump of the tail.
So, I pronounce it a Northern Harrier, even though
it should have been flying low over a marsh somewhere.
I figure it has to get from point A to point B sometime
and in between might be the Caltech campus. I checked
with Jon Feenstra, who was not along on the walk,
but who is our expert on these matters, and he confirmed that
Northern Harriers are possible this time of year
and he has seen them recently at Santa Fe Dam. He thinks we could
be mistaking a female Cooper's Hawk with fluffed
undertail coverts for the Harrier, but from the way the wings were
beating, I think it was the Harrier. Cooper's are supposed
to have stiff and choppy wing beats and these
were definitely not like that. So, I've marked it
down, number 114 on the Caltech list.
So that was one highlight. Another was a flock
of Turkey Vultures soaring overhead. We also saw
a Hermit Thrush and we got the Great Egret too. So it
was a great day. The rain held off, just barely.
The total number of species was 23, far
short of the record for week 8 of 28 set
in 1990. That is also the all time record, which
has been attained twice, having also been reached
in 2003. See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
It was also great to have Ashish back on the walk. Ashish
just spent a few weeks in India in a place where I will
be going to a conference in August. Kind of strange.
The stats:
The date: 2/23/05
The week number: 8
The walk number: 772
The weather: 64 F, cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Ashish Mahabal
The birds (23):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Black Phoebe
Turkey Vulture
Great Egret
Northern Harrier
Band-tailed Pigeon
Hermit Thrush
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Starling
Downy Woodpecker
Lesser Goldfinch
Bushtit
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Raven
American Goldfinch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
2/25/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
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Last week I was at a conference in Cathedral City.
On the way back on Thursday I stopped off
at the Greater Morongo Valley Nature Reserve
for a short visit. While there, a Cooper's Hawk
landed a short distance away and I got a
real good look at it sitting there and also
when it took off. It had a LOT OF WHITE where
I saw white on the "Northern Harrier". Hence, I think
the bird we saw on 2/23/05 is much more likely
a Cooper's Hawk rather than a Northern Harrier.
And, therefore I'm changing the call. So, no new bird on
the campus list for 2/23/05.
Revised stats:
The date: 2/23/05
The week number: 8
The walk number: 772
The weather: 64 F, cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Ashish Mahabal
The birds (23):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Black Phoebe
Turkey Vulture
Great Egret
Cooper's Hawk
Band-tailed Pigeon
Hermit Thrush
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Starling
Downy Woodpecker
Lesser Goldfinch
Bushtit
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Raven
American Goldfinch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Alan,
3/7/05
2/15/05
The 7th walk of the year was a nice one, pretty good birds, and
a very nice day, maybe a little chilly at 63 F.
We saw 21 species. The 7th week of the year often
produces some high numbers; the record is 26 in 1990,
but often we've seen 23 and 24 for the week. Now is just
about when we see the most species during the year.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
The high light bird was a Black-throated Gray Warbler.
We saw it in Tournament Park. Later, on the north side
of campus we ran across Jon Feenstra and he said he had
just seen one too. The low light was a lack of a House Sparrow.
The disappointment was the lack of the Great
Egret, which has been seen on campus off and on
the last two weeks. But not at lunchtime on a Tuesday.
We did see the Mallards though, and the Ravens
appear to be building a nest again in the
same place as they've been using the last couple of years, above
President Baltimore's Office.
The stats:
The date: 2/15/05
The week number: 7
The walk number: 771
The weather: 63 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Carolyn Ash
The birds (21):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Mallard
Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Goldfinch
Band-tailed Pigeon
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Bushtit
Starling
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Gull, sp.
Red-tailed Hawk
Dark-eyed Junco
Raven
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
2/15/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
2/8/05
It was week 6 of the year, it was the 770th walk in the series
going back to 1986, and we welcomed a new walker, Carolyn
Ash. She is the 69th individual to join in on a walk
and brought the total number of person-walks to 2285.
Carolyn is the Director of Student-Faculty Programs at Caltech.
Welcome aboard, Carolyn.
The day was beautiful and the walk was pretty good.
We saw 21 species, which is not a record,
but well above average for week 6 of the year.
The record for week 6 is 25 set in 1990.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
The total could easily have been higher if two
regulars had made an appearance. The Rock Pigeon and
the Mockingbird were nowhere to be found. The highlight
birds were a Turkey Vulture and a Townsend's Warbler. It
seems strange to put those two bird names in the
same sentence!
The stats:
The date: 2/8/05
The week number: 6
The walk number: 770
The weather: 62 F, clear and sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Carolyn Ash
The birds (21):
Scrub Jay
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Turkey Vulture
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Band-tailed Pigeon
Bushtit
Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Black Phoebe
Townsend's Warbler
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Starling
American Goldfinch
Gull, sp.
Raven
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
2/8/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
2/1/05
It was a beautiful day for a birdwalk and what a birdwalk
it was. We set a record for number of species seen on a
walk during the 5th week of a year. We saw 24 species, one
above the previous record of 23, which has been reached
several times. See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
It was two-wren day, a three-woodpecker day, a Western
Tanager day, and a day on which we saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet
take a bath using wet leaves in a bush. We also saw two Bewick's
Wrens near a potential nest hole near the sapsucker
tree in Tournament Park. By the way, we saw
the Red-breasted Sapsucker too. He was one of the
three woodpecker sightings. He was on a tree near
the sapsucker tree, so he seems to be exploring other food sources.
The other wren was a House Wren, observed in the maintenance yard.
The stats:
The date: 2/1/05
The week number: 5
The walk number: 769
The weather: 70 F, clear and sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter
The birds (24):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Gull, sp.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-rumped Warbler
House Wren
Band-tailed Pigeon
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Robin
Downy Woodpecker
Western Tanager
Bewick's Wren
Lesser Goldfinch
Starling
American Goldfinch
Black Phoebe
Bushtit
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
2/1/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu