1/25/05
Bryan Jacoby's last regularly scheduled birdwalk produced
a nice rarity: a flock of 5 White Pelicans
flew right over head. We've seen those only three other
times in the 19 years of the walks. We did, however,
see a flock last year. Bryan hopes to visit us
once in a while if his research efforts carry him to
Southern California. We wish him the best in
his future endeavors.
As far as numbers go, we were a little on the low side for a week 4
of the year. We recorded 18 species. See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
The record for week 4 is 22 in 2003.
I already mentioned the highlight. The lowlight was a lack
of a House Sparrow. In the last few years we've missed
seeing House Sparrows on about 2 occasions per year.
So, it does happen, and in fact, for week 4 the probability
is only about 90% to see one. So, once in 10 years
we miss seeing a House Sparrow during week 4. It happened
this year.
The stats:
The date: 1/25/05
The week number: 4
The walk number: 768
The weather: 69 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter, Bryan Jacoby
The birds (18):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Band-tailed Pigeon
Black Phoebe
American Goldfinch
White Pelican
Red-tailed Hawk
Robin
Starling
Gull, sp.
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
1/25/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
1/18/05
The penultimate walk of Bryan Jacoby's Caltech
birdwalking career was held in fantastic
weather: 77 F and partly cloudy. Bryan has taken
a job back East at NRL, I believe, and will only
join us on rare occasions, I imagine. His last
scheduled walk will be next week.
The birds were cooperating except for one major
disappointment: no Rock Pigeon. For a long while
there was also no House Sparrow. I was reminded of an old
saying: be careful what you wish for. I don't
know how many times I have wished that House Sparrows would
vanish from campus. Well, they haven't but they aren't
the main bird you see on a walk right now.
We saw 21 species, not a record for the third week of the year,
which was 23 set two years ago, but still a good number.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
I wouldn't say there was a specific hightlight,
just a convergence of birds with reasonable probability
of being seen this time of year. No real rarities,
unless you want to count Robins or the Townsend's
Warbler. I didn't think so. Mockingbirds seem to be back
in good numbers. Bryan thinks one was mimicking a car alarm as
we walked up Wilson.
The stats:
The date: 1/18/05
The week number: 3
The walk number: 767
The weather: 77 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter, Bryan Jacoby
The birds (21):
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Band-tailed Pigeon
Downy Woodpecker
Starling
Robin
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Cedar Waxwing
Townsend's Warbler
Bushtit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
1/18/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
1/11/05
The second walk of 2005 was highlighted by the
return of Bill Schaefer, a stalwart of the walks from
2001 to early 2004, when he moved to Northern California.
It was good to have Bill join us again. It was also good
to have the Sun out! The last 15 days have been the
wettest in LA since records have been kept (1877).
But the rain ended early this morning and the birds
came out to celebrate. We saw 22 species, not a record
for the second week of the year, but still a good number.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
The record for the second week of the year
is 27, set in 2003, when Bill was also on the walk.
Twenty-two is third best. So not bad
The highlights were three rarities: Hermit
Thrush, Red-breasted Sapsucker, and Dark-eyed Junco.
In the 766 walks that have been taken, we've seen these on
27, 22, and 17, respectively. (The latter includes
Red-naped Sapsucker and Hybrid Sapsucker observations.)
We also saw a big flock of Crows, so I don't
know if the West Nile virus had a long-lasting effect or not.
They seem to be back.
The stats:
The date: 1/11/05
The week number: 2
The walk number: 766
The weather: 56 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter, Bill Schaefer, Bryan Jacoby
The birds (22):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black Phoebe
Downy Woodpecker
American Goldfinch
Hermit Thrush
Band-tailed Pigeon
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Bushtit
Dark-eyed Junco
Starling
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
1/11/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
1/5/05
The first walk of 2005 is in the books and it was
a record-setter. We bagged 22 species, which broke
the previous week 1 record by two. See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
It was beautiful day, 55F and partly cloudy.
The highlight birds were two rarities, a Kestrel and some
Dark-eyed Juncos. The Kestrel was overseeing the construction
job on the North athletic field, in concert with a Crow.
We haven't seen a Kestrel since 2000 and only 14 times in 19 years.
So, that was neat. The Juncos are also rarely seen,
only 5 times in the last 13 years. We also saw Robins,
which are pretty rare, and a Say's Phoebe, another rare bird,
although they come in streaks and we saw one last week.
So it was a banner day.
The stats:
The date: 1/5/05
The week number: 1
The walk number: 765
The weather: 55 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter
The birds (22):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Robin
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Kestrel
Band-tailed Pigeon
Bushtit
Starling
American Goldfinch
Dark-eyed Junco
Lesser Goldfinch
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
1/5/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu