3/29/10
Beautiful day in Southern California and a nice walk was enjoyed by all.
We observed 22 species, well short of the high of 31 for week 13, which
also happens to be the all-time high for any walk. But, we scored in
the positive; the median for week 13 is only 19.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
I would say we saw more or less the usuals for this time of year.
We missed the Rock Pigeon and Scrub Jay, which is also getting to
be usual.
The date: 3/29/10
The week number: 13
The walk number: 1032
The weather: 74 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Viveca Sapin-Areeda,
Kalyani Tikekar, Darren Dowell, John Beckett, Mark Scheel, Beth Moore,
Akshay Naik
The birds (22):
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Mallard
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Bushtit
Raven
House Wren
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Bewick's Wren
Lesser Goldfinch
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Black Phoebe
Cooper's Hawk
Spotted Towhee
Cedar Waxwing
Townsend's Warbler
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
4/2/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
3/22/10
Nice walk. We observed 28 species, scoring a 2.1978 for the walk,
second highest this year. And, it was record for a week 12!
Previous record was 27, so we got it by one, by a Mallard.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
For highlights, we saw four types of warbler, two species of wren,
and two hawks. So, it was a happening walk. Obviously, since we set
a record. Next week will be tougher to set a record as the record
for week 13 is 31, which just happens to be the all-time record.
The date: 3/22/10
The week number: 12
The walk number: 1031
The weather: 67 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Beth Moore, Kalyani Tikekar, Viveca Sapin-Areeda,
Mark Scheel, Simon Radford, Ashish Mahabal, John Beckett, George Rossman
The birds (28):
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Bushtit
Cedar Waxwing
Lesser Goldfinch
White-throated Swift
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Raven
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Goldfinch
Townsend's Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Dark-eyed Junco
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
House Wren
Bewick's Wren
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Cooper's Hawk
Black Phoebe
Kingbird, sp.
Mallard
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
3/22/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
3/15/10
Where have all the raptors gone? We didn't spot a one. But we did welcome two new walkers, Kalyani Tikekar and Akshay Naik, who came equipped with a digital camera to record some of our catches!
It was a beautiful, sunny day; but perhaps it was a bit too warm for the birds as we only brought in 19 species. Highlights were a Snowy Egret in the Baxter pond and a Hermit Thrush in Tournament Park. I tried to spot a Townsend's Warbler but Viveca corrected me - the yellow I was seeing was really white - and gave us a Black-throated Gray Warbler.
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: 3/15/10
The week number: 11
The walk number: 1030
The weather: 73 F, sunny
The walkers: Jim Carlblom, David Werntz, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Kent Potter, Barbara Ellis, Kalyani Tikekar, Akshay Naik, John Beckett, Beth Moore
The birds (19):
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Lesser Goldfinch
Mallard
Bushtit
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black Phoebe
House Wren
Hermit Thrush
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Raven
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Snowy Egret
-- Beth Moore
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
3/21/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
3/8/10
Another outstanding walk. In fact, we tied the record for
a week 10. We observed 24 species.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
We had some good birds: Black-throated Gray Warbler, Townsend's
Warbler, Western Bluebird, and Dark-eyed Junco to name four.
Still missing Rock Pigeon.
The big news of the week is that a Belted Kingfisher showed
up on campus to terroize the fish in Baxter and Ramo ponds. Nathan
Dalleska discovered it and put us onto it. I saw
it dive in and successfully accomplish its goal: get a fish.
Pretty neat. For the kingfisher and for me. Not for the fish.
Now, if it will just stay there until next Monday
at lunch time so it can make the list. That would be a first for the
Caltech birdwalk.
The date: 3/8/10
The week number: 10
The walk number: 1029
The weather: 59 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Mark Scheel, Beth Moore, Ashish Mahabal, John Beckett
The birds (24):
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Mallard
Bushtit
Townsend's Warbler
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black Phoebe
American Goldfinch
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Western Bluebird
Swallow, sp.
Hawk, sp.
Band-tailed Pigeon
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Dark-eyed Junco
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Cedar Waxwing
Raven
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
3/12/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
3/1/10
Another good, positive-scoring walk, but no records were set.
We observed 25 species, good for a walk score of 0.93486,
or nearly one standard deviation above the mean for week 9 of the year.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Acorn Woodpecker. Those were the "regulars"
we didn't see. My listing sheet has those and six other regulars pre-printed
at the top of the sheet, so I can easily check them off and
save having to write them down each week. But, lately, we haven't
been seeing all our regulars so regularly. If I use
the data on one of the plots on the website, the one
that shows the probability of observation for each species
by year, and look at the results for 2009, here are the nine
most probable species to be observed (approximate probabilities shown):
House Finch (1.0)
Crow (0.95)
Acorn Woodpecker (0.95)
Anna's Hummingbird (0.9)
Lesser Goldfinch (0.88)
Black Phoebe (0.88)
Bushtit (0.82)
Mourning Dove (0.8)
Mockingbird (0.78)
So, in the current list, House Sparrow (0.7), Scrub Jay (0.5),
and Rock Pigeon (0.65) would be thrown off the list, replaced by
Bushtit, Black Phoebe, and Lesser Goldfinch.
Nonetheless, I can say with fairly high probability that I won't be
changing the list anytime soon. Why? For three reasons: 1) because that
would take some effort and I'm short on spare effort right now;
hence, why this report is being written on a Sunday, just before the
next walk is to take place, 2) because I have some
feeling that when it comes time at the end of the year to transfer
the data on the listing sheets to the spreadsheet in my computer that
changing the list in the middle of the year might not be a good idea,
and 3) because really to be pre-printed on the list, the species
should have a high probability to be observed and have a long name, and
I haven't optimized for that yet, which of course would require a
withdrawal from the effort well, which is pretty low at the moment.
Best bird of the walk goes to Western Bluebird. Haven't seen that
one in a while.
The date: 3/1/10
The week number: 9
The walk number: 1028
The weather: 64 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Ashish Mahabal, Mark Scheel, Kent Potter, Darren Dowell, Viveca Sapin-Areeda
The birds (25):
Scrub Jay
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Crow
Raven
Red-tailed Hawk
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Lesser Goldfinch
Black Phoebe
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Western Bluebird
Swallow, sp.
Red-shouldered Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
American Goldfinch
Band-tailed Pigeon
Say's Phoebe
Orange-crowned Warbler
Bewick's Wren
Bushtit
Cedar Waxwing
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
3/7/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu