Caltech Birding

6/29/09

Another positive walk -- but just barely. We scored a whopping 0.31487. But nonetheless that makes 10 positives in a row, which is something like getting 10 heads in a row on successive coin flips. We got 13 species, right on the median for a week 26 but apparently a hair above the average.

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

The highlight was observing the house wrens in Tournament Park. Two of them were still using the nest. It appeared to me that the adult was still feeding a young one in the nest, but the young one could fly in and out at will and did so. The young one would fly in first, followed by the adult who appeared to be feeding it. Not totally sure but very interesting if true.

The stats:
The date: 6/29/09
The week number: 26
The walk number: 994
The weather: 84 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Viveca Sapin-Areeda

The birds (13):

Rock Pigeon
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Red-masked Parakeet
Red-tailed Hawk
House Wren
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Black Phoebe
Lesser Goldfinch

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
6/29/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

6/22/09

Well, we definitely slowed down a bit on this walk. We picked up a bird here, a bird there. In such a way, we ended up with 16 birds. Alan will probably check the data and tell us that we didn't do so poorly after all (editors note: correct, another positive-scoring walk, 9th in a row-- Alan). Our walk was book-ended with our highlights: several Red-masked Parakeets chewing on berries at the start and a Mallard next to the pond at the finish.

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: 6/22/09
The week number: 25
The walk number: 993
The weather: 73 F, Clear blue skies
The walkers: Kent Potter, Chris Martin, Nathan Dalleska, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Beth Moore

The birds (16):

Rock Pigeon
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Hummingbird, sp.
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Black Phoebe
Band-tailed Pigeon
Red-masked Parakeet
Bushtit
Lesser Goldfinch
White-throated Swift
Raven
Mallard

-- Beth

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
6/28/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

6/15/09

Well the blowout bird walks continue. We again set a record for the the week. We recorded 21 species, three above the previous record for week 24. We've now had eight positive scoring walks in a row and four consecutive records, either set or tied. It's getting to be beyond anything. But not quite. If the year suddenly ended today, we'd have the 5th highest scoring year for walks for the period 1987 to 2009. Not bad, but not beyond anything.

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

We did have some controversy. We were in the fenced area which is part of what we call the maintenance yard. We heard two birds and most of us decided we were hearing a Red-whiskered Bulbul and a Spotted Towhee. Then Darren Dowell said he could name those tunes with one bird, a Black-headed Grosbeak. So, when I got back to the office, I went to the All About Birds website and listened to the songs and calls they have there for those three birds. I decided on the bulbul and towhee. Maybe they don't have all the songs of the Black-headed Grosbeak on the website, but what's there didn't fit. I could make the other two fit what I heard. The nice thing is that if you removed both birds and gave us no credit for either, we'd have still set a record. So, birding at Caltech is really good right now.

The stats:
The date: 6/15/09
The week number: 24
The walk number: 992
The weather: 68 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Jim Carlblom, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Beth Moore, David Werntz, Darren Dowell

The birds (21):

Rock Pigeon
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Black Phoebe
Band-tailed Pigeon
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Spotted Towhee
Downy Woodpecker
House Wren
Red-masked Parakeet
Bushtit
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Falcon, sp.
Starling
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-tailed Hawk

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
6/15/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

6/8/09

Well we didn't have Mike Palmiter so ... we only tied a record! We've now set or tied a record high for the week for three weeks in a row. Pretty amazing. We got 18 species So we didn't knock it out of the park, but a tying a record is still pretty good.

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

Jim Carlblom brought us a Mallard in the Millikan pool on his way to the walk. Good thing, because it wasn't there when I checked at the end of the walk. For highlights we saw a couple of Selasphorus-style Hummingbirds and there was a Spotted Towhee in full view at the very top of a tree. We did not see an Acorn Woodpecker, which is very unusual to have happen, and we didn't see a Scrub Jay, which is a more normal circumstance these days. Other than those two unfortunate deficiencies, a good walk was had by all.

The stats:
The date: 6/8/09
The week number: 23
The walk number: 991
The weather: 65 F, cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Jim Carlblom, Darren Dowell, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Kent Potter, Nathan Dalleska

The birds (18):

Rock Pigeon
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Crow
Mallard
Black Phoebe
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Lesser Goldfinch
House Wren
Spotted Towhee
Band-tailed Pigeon
Red-masked Parakeet
Bushtit
White-throated Swift
Downy Woodpecker

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
6/8/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

6/1/09

What is going on? I could almost repeat the wow story from last week. We had another record-setting walk! We observed 21 species, setting the record for week 22 by 3 species. The walk score was a whopping 2.53912. The prospects for a good scoring year are looking up.

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

The big highlight, unfortunately seen only by Viveca on her way to the walk, was a Yellow-headed Parrott. We don't see that one very often. And what a spectacular looking and sounding bird it is. We got the Red-whiskered Bulbul again and both towhees. We did miss the Scrub Jay but that's not unusual. We also saw a falcon, but we weren't sure which one -- it was pretty high up.

It must be Mike Palmiter. On both of his two walks, we've had outstanding totals. Way to go Mike.

The stats:
The date: 6/1/09
The week number: 22
The walk number: 990
The weather: 63 F, cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Mike Palmiter, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Darren Dowell, Beth Moore

The birds (21):

Rock Pigeon
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-headed Parrott
Black Phoebe
Lesser Goldfinch
Bushtit
Spotted Towhee
California Towhee
Starling
Red-masked Parakeet
Band-tailed Pigeon
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Raven
Falcon, sp.
Red-tailed Hawk

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
6/3/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu