Caltech Birding

2/24/09

Spectacular walk. Weather was great. Lots of walkers. Lots of birds. That's what we're talking about!

We got 24 species, halfway between the median of 20 and the maximum of 28 for a week 8. So, finally, a positive-scoring walk. The next 8 weeks are the weeks where we typically see the most bird species during the year. Let's hope we have at least typical walks during the next two months.

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

I guess our best birds were the Nuttall's Woodpecker and the Kestrel. We spotted that Kestrel bad boy (or was it a bad girl?) on Wilson. Haven't seen one of those since 2005. So, a good find there.

The stats:
The date: 2/24/09
The week number: 8
The walk number: 976
The weather: 69, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Darren Dowell, Kent Potter, Fiona Tindall, Nathan Dalleska, Beth Moore, Viveca Sapin-Areeda
The birds (24):

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

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
2/24/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

2/13/09

Well that was a first. We walked about half the walk in the rain. I don't recall ever doing that, but these were unusual times. We wanted to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count and that runs today thorugh Monday. Monday is a Caltech holiday, so we thought if we could get it in today we'd kill two birds with one stone. It would be both the list for the GBBC and serve as our week 7 walk.

If it had not been for Darren. the only walker without an umbrella, I think we would have scrapped the walk after 10 minutes, 5 minutes short of the minimum required for the GBBC. But Darren looked at the sky and said he had a good feeling about the next 15 minutes, even though it was lightly raining at the time. So we pressed on. And he was right. It quit raining for about 15 minutes. By that time we decided to press on to the end despite the rain. Darren got pretty wet but said at the end he had no regrets.

It was actually an interesting walk. We got 17 species, not great, as the median for week 7 is 20. But we saw some unusual sights. We saw and heard a couple of Spotted Towhees, saw a Black-throated Gray Warbler, a Bewick's Wren, a party of 5 Dark-eyed-Juncos, and heard the Yellow-headed Parrots. Probably the most interesting sight was the leafless tree full of leaves, except they weren't leaves, they were Cedar Waxwings. Kent counted them out and came up with 143 Cedar Waxwings in the tree! Then another flock of about 50 flew in. So, for the GBBC list, where one is supposed to put down the maximum number seen at any one time, we are logging in 193 Cedar Waxwings. Not bad.

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: 2/13/09
The week number: 7
The walk number: 975
The weather: 49 F, rain
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Jim Carlblom, Kent Potter, Darren Dowell, Beth Moore

The birds (17):

Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black Phoebe
Spotted Towhee
Dark-eyed Junco
Orange-crowned Warbler
Cedar Waxwing
Band-tailed Pigeon
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Lesser Goldfinch
Bewick's Wren
Yellow-headed Parrots

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
2/13/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

2/9/09

We barely got this walk in between rain storms. But we did it. And we will have another walk this week on Friday (weather permitting) to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which runs from Friday through Monday. Monday is a Caltech holiday and since Friday is actually week 7 (this walk was week 6), this Friday's walk will be next week's walk. Are you confused? I think I am. I'm not sure. Anyway, if all goes to plan, we will walk Friday this week and have no walk next week, and my software will be happy. But this is all subject to weather conditions.

We didn't do too badly on this between-storms walk. We got 18 species, right on the median. But the walk graded out a bit negative because the average for week 6 is higher than the median, and the walk score is based on the average, not the median. Oh well, that's what math can do to you.

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 a highlight or two. We saw a Western Bluebird and a Bewick's Wren. Beth had to work hard for the wren. It was making a miniature squirrel sound in a hedge, but she finally got a visual on it. It went from Wren. sp. to Bewick's Wren when she got the eyeballs on it.

The stats:
The date: 2/9/09
The week number: 6
The walk number: 974
The weather: 47 F, partly cloudy, to say the least.
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, David Werntz, Beth Moore, Nathan Dalleska

The birds (18):

Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black Phoebe
Western Bluebird
Lesser Goldfinch
Robin
Cedar Waxwing
American Goldfinch
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Bewick's Wren
Bandtailed Pigeon
Bushtit

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
2/10/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

2/4/09

Well after two tries, we got the job done. Tuesday didn't happen because I thought no one had come to join me. But actually, Eric Christian from the East Coast out here to attend a meeting did arrive and as he passed me in his car on the way to the parking garage he honked at me. It must have been that my bad ear was pointed towards the car because it didn't register. After parking, he decided to meet us part way through at the maintenance yard. He walked back to the starting spot and by that time I had left. I'm sure he was plenty mystified because he saw me there with Darren. So he must have thought the walk was happening for sure. But Darren was just there for a minute before he had to go to a meeting. But even without the Darren confusion, he knew that I thought he was coming to the walk -- hey, we were in the same meeting and we had discussed it! Oh well, that is what I call an unfortunate situation. I guess the lesson learned here is never to assume I can hear anything. Go for eye contact. Then the question will be whether or not I can remember anything.

I was able to gather some troops for Wednesday and we had a nice walk -- weatherwise. Not so much birdwise. We got 15 species, four below the median for a week 5 but one above the absolute minimum, so we didn't set any really terrible records. Nonetheless, the walk graded out at -1.1265, the 4th negative-scoring walk in a row. But, ever the optimist, I point out that the big weeks are still coming. Weeks 9 through 15 are historically the best birdwalking weeks at Caltech, so hopefully we have some big birding days ahead of us.

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

Did we see any unusual or nifty birds? Well, the Dark-eyed Junco was nice. We missed House Sparrow, Rock Pigeon, and Scrub Jay. Wow.

The stats:
The date: 2/4/09
The week number: 5
The walk number: 973
The weather: 79 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Fiona Tindall, Darren Dowell, Beth Moore

The birds (15):

Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Cedar Waxwing
Dark-eyed Junco
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-tailed Hawk
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Black Phoebe
Bushtit
American Goldfinch

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
2/6/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu