Caltech Birding

5/26/09

Wow! That was beyond anything. Well, not quite. But it was the 3rd BEST-SCORING WALK IN HISTORY. And that covers 989 walks back to October 1986. And we were spectacular on the walkers front as well. Three new birders joined the walk, Mike Palmiter, Larry Hasbrouck, and Ron Larson. Mike was a student here in the 50's I believe. He can correct me by email it that's wrong. He, Ron, and Larry all taught school together locally. Welcome to the walks and thanks for bringing the good luck!

Now, more on that. We observed 26 species. The median for a week 21 is 14 species and the maximum ever recorded for this week of the year is only 18! So we broke the all-time record for a week 21 by 8 species. Unbelievable. The score for the walk was 2.89756, which is the number of standard deviations above the average number seen in the distribution of all the walks during week 21 It was just behind the best-scoring walk of all time, a 3.1033 whopper on 3/30/2006, and one on 4/13/2006 that scored a 2.97495.

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

To get that many birds we must have had some highlights. We did. Early on we saw two Red-whiskered Bulbuls near the maintenance yard. The Mallards were in the pond. We saw an Olive-sided Flycatcher, a Downy Woodpecker, and a Northern Rough-winged Swallow. A Cooper's Hawk was sitting nearby us on a tree branch and then later was seen flying about. The House Wren was still in Tournament Park. And maybe the biggest surprise of all: we saw all the irregular "regulars" for a (big) change.

So, there you have it. One spectacular birdwalk. Oh, and it was a beautiful day too -- 68 F and bright blue sky. It doesn't get much better than this folks.

The stats:
The date: 5/26/09
The week number: 21
The walk number: 989
The weather: 68 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Mike Palmiter, Ron Larson, Larry Hasbrouck, Beth Moore, Nathan Dalleska, Kent Potter

The birds (26):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Mallard
Black Phoebe
Raven
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Bushtit
White-throated Swift
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Downy Woodpecker
Cooper's Hawk
Olive-sided Flycatcher
House Wren
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Band-tailed Pigeon
Starling
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-tailed Hawk

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
5/26/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

5/18/09

It was a little hot and muggy in Pasadena, but it didn't bother the birds too much. We had 18 species, just above the median (17) for a week 20. And that means we've now had four positive scoring walks in a row. And finally the ranking score for the year has fought it's way up to zero, well up to -0.00621 actually, so nearly zero. So things 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

Our sterling highlight was the Red-whiskered Bulbul parading around us in Tournament Park. It's a really beautiful bird and it was posing for us quite nicely. The lowlight was the lack of a Rock Pigeon. You know, when we used to call them Rock Doves, we saw a lot more of them!

The stats:
The date: 5/18/09
The week number: 20
The walk number: 988
The weather: 82 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Jim Carlblom, Kent Potter, Beth Moore

The birds (18):

Scrub Jay
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
Lesser Goldfinch
Bushtit
White-throated Swift
Raven
Spotted Towhee
House Wren
Band-tailed Pigeon
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Black Phoebe

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
5/18/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

5/11/09

Picture perfect day in Pasadena. About 71 F and clear as a bell. The birding started kind of slowly and never seemed to pick up much steam, but a bird here, a bird there, and by the end of the walk we had 19 species, way above the median of 14 for a week 19. Seven more and we would have tied the all time record for a week 19. Yeah, right.

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 highlights. There are little House Wrens in the House Wren hole in the tree in Tournament Park. We saw the adult go in and feed them and then we could hear the little ones in there. Well, Darren could. My hearing is not what it used to be! Then, near the end of the walk we saw a Bushit on the big Bushtit nest in a bush on Holliston. Appears the Bushtits grabbed some toilet paper somewhere to use in constructing the nest.
We also saw all the "regulars" for a change. So, a good walk was had by all.
The stats:
The date: 5/11/09
The week number: 19
The walk number: 987
The weather: 71 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Darren Dowell, Kent Potter

The birds (19):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Starling
White-throated Swift
House Wren
Red-tailed Hawk
Lesser Goldfinch
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Band-tailed Pigeon
Raven
Bushtit
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
5/11/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

5/4/09

It was a perfect 73 F and sunny and clear. It was a good day to welcome a new birder to the group! She is Elena Armand and she is in Biology. She is our 106th individual to walk the walk and brought the cumulative person-walks up to a nice, round 3300 since the inception of walks in 1986. Welcome, Elena.

The birds cooperated reasonably well. We observed 18 species, a bit above average for week 18 of the year. We should get some extra credit for seeing the same number of birds as the week number. Let's keep that up through the end 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

We started with a bang as a few members reported their sightings on the way to the walk. Among them was a Downy Woodpecker from Beth. We had about 8 birds before we left the meeting place. Other notables for the day were Red-whiskered Bulbul and California Towhee. Another highlight was the Bushtit nest on Holliston. I'd never seen one -- they are huge! Fiona Tindall, who arrived for only the last ten minutes and hence didn't get credit for an official walk, said she has one in her yard and when the babies come out of the nest, they break through the bottom of the nest. Very interesting.

The stats:
The date: 5/4/09
The week number: 18
The walk number: 986
The weather: 73 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Elena Armand, Kent Potter, Beth Moore, Darren Dowell

The birds (18):

Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Downy Woodpecker
White-throated Swift
Bushtit
California Towhee
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Starling
Raven
Black Phoebe
House Wren
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
5/4/09
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu