Caltech Birding

6/28/10

We didn't think we were doing all that well because it seemed kind of quiet and the numbers weren't mounting up very rapidly, but it turns out we set another record! We observed 17 species, one more than the previous record for a week 26. This year has been unbelievable.

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

We set this record despite being locked out of the maintenance yard. The three locks on the gate are supposed to be locked together in series and I have the key to one of them. But, someone had left two out of the series and I didn't have the key to the one that was actually locking the gate. I called the problem in and hopefully the locks will be arranged properly next week.

We also didn't see a House Finch or a Mallard, which was very unusual. But we got three woodpeckers, which was also unusual, and that helped a lot. Next week's walk will be on Tuesday, as Monday is a holiday at Caltech.

The date: 6/28/10
The week number: 26
The walk number: 1045
The weather: 70 F, sunny

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

The birds (17):

Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
White-throated Swift
Red-masked Parakeet
Raven
Bushtit
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Downy Woodpecker
Lesser Goldfinch
Spotted Towhee
Black Phoebe
Nuttall's Woopecker

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
6/29/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

6/21/10

First day of summer and what a beautiful day it was. Partly cloudy and 70 F. Slight breeze. And, another record-setting walk! Unbelievable. We observed 21 species, which is two better than the record for a week 25. Next week's record is 16. I'll be surprised if we don't break that one too.

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

I guess the highlight was that we saw three species of hummingbirds. Otherwise, we just kept getting one here, one there, until it all added up. The odd bird was the large white one flapping away in the distance to the north. Darren saw it as he was catching up with the group at the start of the walk. He thinks it was a Great Egret, putting the probability at 70%. I put it down as a "Shorewater bird, sp." since I happened to have that category already defined. We would have broken the record without it, but since it was definitely a bird species not on the list, it needs to be recorded to be consistent with previous practice and with common sense.

The date: 6/21/10
The week number: 25
The walk number: 1044
The weather: 70 F, partly cloudy

The walkers: Alan Cummings, John Beckett, Barbara Ellis, Darren Dowell, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Beth Moore

The birds (21):

Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Crow
Mallard
Black Phoebe
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Spotted Towhee
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
House Wren
Bushtit
Band-tailed Pigeon
Starling
White-throated Swift
Lesser Goldfinch
Cooper's Hawk
Shorewater bird, sp.

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
6/21/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

6/14/10 -- corrected

(Tom Palfrey noticed I left off Hummingbird, Selasphorus and Mark Scheel confirmed)

Great walk! We observed 21 species, which tied the all-time record for a week 24. I should point out that last week was better than Beth thought, as the group actually fell just one bird shy of the record for week 23. So, the good birding trend for the year continues. If we stopped now, the year score would be 1.61832, which is off the top of the plot on the web. The highest previous year score was last year's 0.72074. But we have half a year left to either improve, deprove, or stay the same.

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 back Tom Palfrey, who last walked in 2000, some 10 years ago. He almost got the record for longest span of time between walks, but Peter Mao still holds the record at 11 years. It was good to see Tom on the walks again. Oh Peter, Where Art Thou?

The date: 6/14/10
The week number: 24
The walk number: 1043
The weather: 79 F, sunny

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Beth Moore, John Beckett, Tom Palfrey, Mark Scheel, David Werntz, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Karin Bugge

The birds (21):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Crow
Bushtit
Lesser Goldfinch
Starling
Raven
Black Phoebe
California Towhee
Red-masked Parakeet
Spotted Towhee
House Wren
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Cooper's Hawk
Hummingbird, Selasphorus

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
6/16/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

6/7/10

Well...we all showed up. But the birds didn't. And there really wasn't any good reason for them not to. It wasn't terribly hot - 78 degrees when we started. And there weren't any raptors around to scare them off. It's just that nobody showed up! No Acorn Woodpeckers and No Red-whiskered Bulbuls [both can be heard outside my window as I write up this report]. But the company was good [Barbara Ellis is back! and Chris Martin took a break between trips to Russia and France] and White-throated Swifts were 'whinnying' and the Black-chinned Hummingbird sat still long enough for us to make a positive ID - so I guess we really cannot complain.

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: 6/7/10
The week number: 23
The walk number: 1042
The weather: 78 F, sunny

The walkers: Viveca Sapin-Areeda, John Beckett, Barbara Ellis, Chris Martin, Kent Potter, Karin Bugge, Beth Moore
The birds (17):

Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Crow
White-throated Swift
Bushtit
Starling
California Towhee
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Spotted Towhee
Black Phoebe
Lesser Goldfinch
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Raven

-- Beth

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
6/11/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

6/1/10

We had a great walk. We observed 24 species, which is another record! The previous record for a week 22 was 21, so we broke that by 3 birds. So the good birding on campus continues.

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

We saw both towhees and 3 styles of hummingbirds. Otherwise, pretty much the usual suspects lately. We did not see a Rock Pigeon or a Scrub Jay, but then they are not the usual suspects of late.

The date: 6/1/10
The week number: 22
The walk number: 1041
The weather: 67 F, partly cloudy

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Darren Dowell, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Simon Radford, Ashish Mahabal, Karin Bugge, Beth Moore

The birds (24):

Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Mallard
Bushtit
Starling
California Towhee
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Red-masked Parakeet
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Downy Woodpecker
House Wren
Spotted Towhee
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Black Phoebe
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-tailed Hawk
Band-tailed Pigeon
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Raven

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
6/4/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu