Caltech Birding

11/27/07
We had an interesting birdwalk. We saw 19 species, about what was expected for a week 48, but the mix of birds was not what I expected. We missed so many "regulars", that had we seen them we would have smashed the record for a week 48. We missed Scrub Jay, Mockingbird, House Sparrow, Mourning Dove, and Anna's Hummingbird. Give us those five, four of which we saw last week by the way, and we break the week 48 record by 2. On the other hand we had a three-hawk day and they may have had something to do with the lack of regulars. Regulars leave the zone when the hawks show up. And there were lots of hawks. There may have even been 4 species, but we finally decided the last accipiter must be one we already had put down. See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

I have once again amended the 11/13/07 report. Jon Feenstra nixed the Western Kingbird, emailing in that they are pretty much completely gone by late September. He thought Cassin's Kingbird was more likely, but I decided we should back pedal to Flycatcher, sp. I do appreciate Jon keeping us on the straight and narrow.

The sapsucker, which we saw last week, was not observed. This greatly disappointed Fiona, who missed last week's walk. We did see the sapsucker three times last year, once each in January, March, and October. So we may see it yet again this year. The moral of this story is that you really can't afford to miss a walk! You know the one you miss is going to be the one with the sapsucker. That's just common sense.

The stats:
The date: 11/27/07
The week number: 48
The walk number: 911
The weather: 67F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Fiona Tindall, Viveca Sapin, Barbara Ellis, Beth Moore, Ashish Mahabal

The birds (19):

Rock Pigeon
House Finch
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Townsend's Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cedar Waxwing
California Towhee
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Bushtit
Red-tailed Hawk
Black Phoebe
Lesser Goldfinch
Band-tailed Pigeon
Cooper's Hawk
Starling
Gull, sp.
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
11/28/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

11/20/07
It was a banner day! Not only did we see the Red-breasted Sapsucker for the first time in a long time, we also tied the record for species for a week 47. We saw 21. So, finally we are back on track. See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

I should mention first that I amended last week's report to include the Western Kingbird that Barbara and Beth saw near the tennis courts. Barbara made a convincing case of the identification later on the day of the walk. So that changed last week's total to 15 if you are keeping track. And who isn't!

The sapsucker was vigorously making holes in the sapsucker tree in Tournament Park. It's interesting that you can't hear the tapping like you do with other woodpeckers. I think it must be the soft bark/wood of the particular tree in which they like to drill holes. In addition to the sapsucker, we saw some other interesting birds today: two hawks, two goldfinches, and a Townsend's Warbler to name a few. Beth and Glenn ferreted out a House Wren right at the end of the walk. It was a great bird day!

The stats:
The date: 11/20/07
The week number: 47
The walk number: 910
The weather: 62F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Barbara Ellis, Beth Moore, Kent Potter, Carolyn Ash

The birds (21):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-tailed Hawk
Cedar Waxwing
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Cooper's Hawk
Black Phoebe
Townsend's Warbler
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Band-tailed Pigeon
American Goldfinch
Bushtit
House Wren

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
11/20/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

11/13/07
It was not for lack of eyeballs that the total was low. We had 8 walkers, including one flown in from Northern California (Bill Schaefer) to help out. We recorded 14 species, not the record low for a week 46, but below expectations. I expected 16-18, the record low is 11, and the record high is 22. See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

It was good to have Bill back on a walk. Bill was a regular in 2001-2003. This was his 106th walk and the second of this year. About three quarters of the way through the walk, Bill declared that he was disappointed. I thought it was about the low bird total, but no, it was about the fact we hadn't noticed the slogan on his hat. He got the hat in Dutch Harbor, AK, and it read (I think), "Live simple: eat, sleep, bird". (Or something close to that.) Anyway, I was sorry I hadn't noticed it. It was just right for the walk.

The stats:
The date: 11/13/07
The week number: 46
The walk number: 909
The weather: 84F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Bill Schaefer, Barbara Ellis, Kent Potter, Viveca Sapin, Fiona Tindall, Beth Moore, Carolyn Ash

The birds (15):

Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Finch
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Raven
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-tailed Hawk
American Goldfinch
Robin
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Lesser Goldfinch
Bushtit
Flycatcher, sp. (W. Kingbird added 11/16/07 by Barbara;
changed to Flycatcher, sp. after Feenstra said W. Kingbirds are not here this time of year)

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
11/14/07 -- amended 11/16/07 and 11/21/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

11/6/07
Well the smoke has cleared and our numbers are up. We recorded 19 species, which is a lot better than the twelves we had observed the last two weeks. I don't think the numbers were depressed because of the fires, but I guess it's possible. The expectation for this week was 16-17, so we were above that but below the record for a week 45 of 23. See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

The most unusual thing was we saw all the "regulars", such as Mockingbird, Scrub Jay, and Mourning Dove. Those had become highly irregular. The best bird was probably the Black-chinned Hummingbird, which Barbara spotted at the end of the walk. By the way I need to thank Barbara for pointing out Paul Roa's bird blog to me the other day. He has some great pictures of birds and one was of a Painted Redstart that has returned for the third straight winter to the same oak tree in Bonelli Regional Park. Pretty incredible since this bird comes to us from Arizona or Mexico and is rare in Southern California. I was able to go out and see the bird on October 27 and add it to my lifelist. It's a very beautiful bird. I've added Paul's webpage to the list of links (under the tab named "links" on the Caltech birding webpage). Be sure to check it out. Then go see the bird if you are in the area. Take $8 with you as the park wants that as an entry fee.

The stats:
The date: 11/6/07
The week number: 45
The walk number: 908
The weather: 69F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Jim Carlblom, Barbara Ellis, Simon Radford, Ann Patterson

The birds (19):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Goldfinch
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black Phoebe
Lesser Goldfinch
Band-tailed Pigeon
Bushtit
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Cooper's Hawk
Raven

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
11/7/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu