1/31/06
We were joined on the walk today by Gail Anderson,
who is Director of Electronic Media Publications at Caltech.
She brought along a super camera and tripod and
snapped some really good pictures. I'll attach
a couple to this report. I didn't think she
could do much with the little birds at pretty long
range, but she did great. Gail is walker number 73
in the 20 year history of the walks. Welcome
to the walks, Gail.
We saw 19 species. Last year we set the record for
week 5 with 24. See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
While we didn't set a record, we did see some
interesting ones. Highlights were the Hermit Thrush, Mallard,
Orange-crowned Warbler, and Townsend's Warbler.
The stats:
The date: 1/31/06
The week number: 5
The walk number: 819
The weather: 61 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Gail Anderson, Kent Potter,
Brendan Crill
The birds (19):
Rock Dove
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Mallard
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Hermit Thrush
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Band-tailed Pigeon
Orange-crowned Warbler
Bushtit
Townsend's Warbler
Black Phoebe
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
1/31/06
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
1/24/06
We were joined on the walk today by two people
from Caltech Public Relations. Barbara Ellis
is a writer/editor for Engineering and Science
magazine and Mike Rogers is a writer for Caltech
News. He carried a camera today and was trying to
get some shots for an upcoming publication. It was
a pleasure to have them along and they became the
71st and 72nd individuals to go on a Caltech bird walk.
The new walkers brought us some luck: we saw a
Red-breasted Sapsucker! It was not on the sapsucker
tree and I'm sure we would not have seen it
had it not been for the good eyes of Kent. It was on
a tree near the sapsucker tree and who knows,
maybe this will become the new sapsucker tree.
We should keep a close eye out in the area.
We recorded 21 species, 2nd only to the 22 in
2003 for the high for week 4 of a year.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
So it was a good birding day. I was a worried that
the high winds we had a couple of nights ago would
have blown them all away. Of course, the winds could
also bring us some unusual ones and maybe they did.
In addition to the Red-breasted Sapsucker, I saw
a Snowy Egret this morning about 8 am. Unfortunately,
it was gone by noon and didn't make the list.
The stats:
The date: 1/24/06
The week number: 4
The walk number: 818
The weather: 72 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Glenn Hamell, Carolyn Ash,
Brendan Crill, Barbara Ellis, Mike Rogers
The birds (21):
Rock Dove
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Say's Phoebe
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Band-tailed Pigeon
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Robin
Black Phoebe
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Lesser Goldfinch
Raven
Starling
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
1/24/06
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
1/17/06
The highlight of this week's walk was the return
of Bill Schaefer to the walk. Bill was a regular
walker from 2001 to early 2004, logging 101 walks during that
time. He came back for a walk in 2005 and now this one puts him
up to 103 walks. He ranks 8th all time out of the
70 walkers that have walked the line (I mean walked the walk).
He now lives up in northern California and was down
to take in a special seminar and banquet at Caltech.
Bill brought us some good luck. We recorded 21 species,
just two shy of the record for week 3 which is 23 set
in 2002. See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
The bird highlights were a House Wren and a Say's Phoebe.
We also saw the Black Phoebe, making it a rare
two-phoebe day. The lowlight was the absence of a Mockingbird.
The stats:
The date: 1/17/06
The week number: 3
The walk number: 817
The weather: 67 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Bill Schaefer
The birds (21):
Rock Dove
Scrub Jay
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Say's Phoebe
Black Phoebe
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Band-tailed Pigeon
Raven
American Goldfinch
Lesser Goldfinch
Sparrow, sp.
Bushtit
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Cedar Waxwing
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
1/18/06
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
1/10/06
It was a nice day for a walk if not too productive.
We got 17 species. The record for week 2 is 27 in 2003.
The low is 11 in 1996. Seventeen is below average.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
The highlights were a House Wren, Orange-crowned Warblers,
and a squadron of Turkey Vultures sailing by on a mission
of some sort. Thanks to Glenn for noticing them and
whistling us into attention.
The stats:
The date: 1/10/06
The week number: 2
The walk number: 816
The weather: 70 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter, Brendan Crill
The birds (17):
Rock Dove
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
House Wren
Orange-crowned Warbler
Robin
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Band-tailed Pigeon
Red-tailed Hawk
Turkey vulture
Cedar Waxwing
Black Phoebe
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
1/11/06
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
1/3/06
It was a very nice bird walk to start off the year.
We saw a Red-whiskered Bulbul, only the 6th time that's
been done in the 20 year history of the bird walks.
We also got a good look at a Bewick's Wren. There were Cedar Waxwings
everywhere. We saw 18 species total, which is about average
for the 1st week of the year. The record is 22 in 2005.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
The stats:
The date: 1/3/06
The week number: 1
The walk number: 815
The weather: 62 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Carolyn Ash
The birds (18):
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Raven
Cedar Waxwing
Starling
Red-masked Parakeet
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Bewick's Wren
Bushtit
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Red-tailed Hawk
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
1/7/06
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu