05/25/04

We didn't have a walk last week as only one person was available (me). Although individuals have occasionally walked alone, I'm not keen on it and it's the exception rather than the rule when it does happen. We have never had a 52-walk year. The closest we've come was in 2002 when we recorded 51 walks. Last year we had 50. But prior to that, walks/year in the 40s were common. We have been averaging 4+ walkers per walk this year, so it's a little unusual when only one person can walk, but it does happen. See the plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/walkers/walkers_time.gif.

But that was last week. What about this week? Well, it was a very nice day, for some of us. It was cloudy and about 62 F. This was ideal for Matt, Glenn, and me, but a little on the cool side for Kelly. There were lots of House Finches and Band-tailed Pigeons. But there was one missing bird - the Mourning Dove. If you go to
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/probability_plots.htm, you will see that during week 21 (this week) you have a 100% chance of seeing a Mourning Dove. But not today. No Mourning Dove.

We saw 16 species, which ties the record for week 21, so it was a good birding day to say the least. Sixteen species in week 21 was previously achieved in 1999. (see the bird_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm). We could have had 17 but we let one warbler-looking bird get away in the maintenance yard. However, we did see and hear a Spotted Towhee in the maintenance yard. He was singing near the top of a tall tree. It seemed unusual to me because I think of Towhees as keeping mostly to the ground.

The stats:
The date: 5/25/04
The walk number: 733
The weather: 62 F, cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Matt Hunt, Kelly Jung

The birds (16):

Rock Dove
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Band-tailed Pigeon
Starling
Spotted Towhee
White-throated Swift
Black Phoebe
Bushtit
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Raven

Respectfully submitted,
Alan
5/25/04
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

05/11/04

It was a very good birding day. The weather was nice, too. We saw 19 species, above average for this time of year (see the bird_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm). We could have had 20 but we let one get away in Tournament Park.

There were several highlights. One was a Yellow Warbler that Kent saw on his way to the walk. Then we saw a couple of Black-chinned Hummingbirds and a Pacific-Slope Flycatcher. Most interesting was a Robin chasing a squirrel in the trees north of Chandler.

The missing bird of the day was a Scrub Jay. No Mallards either. But I have been seeing both of them off and on over the past week, so the female is OK.

By the way, the baby Ravens have departed the nest on the north side of Parson-Gates. Three came out and two have survived. One apparenty fell out and died from a broken neck. The other two apparently flew out. I was buzzed by a parent Raven last week when I approached too close to one of its children.

The stats:
The date: 5/11/04
The walk number: 732
The weather: 73F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter, Kelly Jung
The birds (19):

Rock Dove
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
Bushtit
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Band-tailed Pigeon
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Red-tailed Hawk
White-throated Swift
Raven
Pacific-Slope Flycatcher
Yellow Warbler
Robin

Respectfully submitted,
Alan
5/11/04

05/04/04
The weather was warm (~87 F) but the birding was good. We got 20 species and could have had a couple more. There were two birds in the maintenance yard that we just couldn't get an ID on. One was making a distinctive but unfamiliar call. It was brown and moved around a lot. It might have been a wren. The other was quietly moving around in the top of the big tree in the southeast corner. Twenty is above average for this time of the year (see the bird_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm).

One of our sightings was Woodpecker, sp., since we saw it flying (three times) and saw that it was either a Nuttall's or a Downy, but couldn't get a view of its back.

An oddity was the lack of a female Mallard in the "Mallard" ponds. The male was there. Where was the female? I hope she is OK.

The highlight was a band of Turkey Vultures, about 10 of them, swirling overhead. I speculated they were waiting for a final exam to end to feast on the some of the dying sutudents.

The stats:
The date: 5/4/04
The walk number: 731
The weather: 87F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Matt Hunt, Kent Potter, Kelly Jung

The birds (20):

Rock Dove
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
Bushtit
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mallard
Red-tailed Hawk
White-throated Swift
Raven
Turkey Vulture
Woodpecker, sp.

Respectfully submitted,
Alan
5/4/04