1/25/10

Beth said it was a raptorous walk and it was. We saw lots and lot of hawks. And a lot of other birds too. So many that we set a record for a week 4 of a year. In fact we blasted the previous record out of the water, surpassing it by 4 spieces. We saw 26 species and the walk scored 2.65578, among the best ever. Beautiful day too, temperatrue at 62 F and partly cloudy.

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

Let's see, we saw both a Cooper's and a Sharp-shinned Hawk, as well as a Red-tailed sitting in a tree. We saw both towhees and a Hermit Thrush. We saw both goldfinches and both phoebes. We didn't see a Rock Pigeon or a Scrub Jay.

We are now starting the best part of the birding season. For the next 10 weeks the records are typically in the 26 species and above range, so it will be hard to set records but the birding should be good.

The date: 01/25/10
The week number: 4
The walk number: 1023
The weather: 62 F, partly cloudy

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Beth Moore, Mark Scheel, Kent Potter, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, John Beckett

The birds (26):

Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black Phoebe
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Lesser Goldfinch
Cooper's Hawk
Hermit Thrush
Say's Phoebe
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Robin
California Towhee
Raven
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Spotted Towhee
Turkey Vulture
Bushtit
American Goldfinch
Red-tailed Hawk
Cedar Waxwing

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
1/26/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

1/11/10

Beautiful day for a walk and it was a good one. We observed 23 species, well above the median of 19 for the 2nd week of the year but short of the record 27.

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

We welcomed a new walker, Andy Morrison. He's the 116th person to walk the Caltech birdwalk and he pushed the cumulative person-walks to 3503. Welcome aboard Andy!

I would say the highlight birds were Red-crowned Parrots seen in the distance, a nice male Townsend's Warbler, and a Say's Phoebe. Otherwise, it was kind of the usuals that prevailed, although we missed House Sparrow and Mockingbird, two of the most common birds around, generally, but not always that way at Caltech.

The date: 01/11/10
The week number: 2
The walk number: 1022
The weather: 73 F, partly cloudy

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Beth Moore, Mark Scheel, Kent Potter, Andy Morrison, Simon Radford, Nathan Dalleska, Viveca Sapin-Areeda

The birds (23):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Bushtit
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Cedar Waxwing
Black Phoebe
Raven
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Cooper's Hawk
Lesser Goldfinch
Band-tailed Pigeon
Red-crowned Parrot
Say's Phoebe
Bewick's Wren
Robin
California Towhee
Townsend's Warbler
American Goldfinch

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
1/12/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

1/5/10

Just a day before our first walk of 2010, I saw 8 species in my small backyard in less than one minute. So, I was expecting a bountiful birdwalk. Thus, I was a bit disappointed in our final count, 18 species. Nevertheless, we did do one bird species better than our first walk on 2009. The highlight would have to be a now-fairly-typical Say's Phoebe. We were unable to ID the one hawk we spotted high up and then diving down. Acorn Woodpeckers, House Sparrows, Wrens, and Rock Pigeons were not to be found.

To end on a brighter note, we welcomed back former regular walker Glenn Hamell and holiday-time walker Erin Dalleska, Nathan Dalleska's daughter.

Hook 'em Horns! [Oh, did I slip that in?!?]

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

The date: 01/05/10
The week number: 1
The walk number: 1021
The weather: 72 F, clear

The walkers: Nathan Dalleska, Erin Dalleska, Beth Moore, Simon Radford, Kent Potter, Glenn Hamell, Mark Scheel, John Beckett

The birds (18):

Scrub Jay
Northern Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
California Towhee
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black Phoebe
Lesser Goldfinch
Hawk, sp.
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Goldfinch
Say's Phoebe
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Bushtit
Band-tailed Pigeon

-Beth Moore

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
1/9/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu