6/30/05
Ahhh... week 26. Half way through the year. Walk number
789 -- on our way to 1000. Should get there in
about 4 years.
The walk was distinguished by a Lesser Goldfinch.
This goldfinch came undulating over towards us in the maintenance
yard. It was sounding very weird and at
first I thought it was a woodpecker. But no, one lonely,
squawking Lesser Goldfinch landed
in a tree 20 feet away. That's our highlight.
That and the Cooper's Hawk. By the way, I changed
the Sharp-shinned we saw last week into a Cooper's
after an email from Jon who said it
was very unlikely to be a Sharp-shinned this time
of year in Southern California. I then reviewed
the bird books and discovered that Cooper's can
be pretty small, 14", not that much larger than
a Scrub Jay (11"). So, I agree, it was a Cooper's Hawk.
We saw one flying this week.
We saw 11 species, towards the bottom end of what
you'd expect for the end of June. See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
Pretty pleasant walk for this time of year -- sunny and only 77 F.
The stats:
The date: 6/30/05
The week number: 26
The walk number: 789
The weather: 77 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell
The birds (11):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Lesser Goldfinch
Cooper's Hawk
Bushtit
Starling
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
6/30/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
6/21/05
No report last week, in case you are keeping track, since no one
could do the walk. Today was a beautiful day, although it was a
tad on the hot side. It was about 85F and sunny.
We saw 14 species, not a record for week 25 of the year,
but not bad. The record was set last year with 19.
But 14 is above average. See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
We did have a great highlight. We saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk close up
and personal. It landed in a tree and hung around for
several minutes not 10 feet from our noses. The tree
was full of Bushtits, which may be why he
landed there, but we didn't see him try for one.
They wouldn't be much of a snack. Pretty bony I imagine.
Best look at the Sharp-shinned I ever had.
The stats:
The date: 6/21/05
The week number: 25
The walk number: 788
The weather: 85 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter
The birds (14):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Bushtit
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Starling
Robin
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
6/21/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
6/7/05
And suddenly it happened. Well, nothing really happened
all that suddenly, but I've always wanted
to start a story that way.
Not too much happened, actually. It was a beautiful day,
about 73 F and just a little breezy and clear as
a bell. Kent said it's tough to have to live in
Southern California. We only recorded 11 species,
not too good; in fact we tied for worst ever for week 23.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
We could have saved oureslves from that
distinction if we had seen a Scrub Jay, which
is supposed to be 100% probable this time of year.
See the probability plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/probability_plots.htm.
The stats:
The date: 6/7/05
The week number: 23
The walk number: 787
The weather: 73 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter
The birds (11):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
Bushtit
Mallard
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
6/7/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu