10/25/10
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Last week was a big win. Huge.
Broke the record high for the week by 8 birds. This week, we got whipped.
Hammered. It was a stinker. I think we got whipped by the wind.
A breeze came up just before the walk started. It was breezy enough that old,
dead palm fronds were breaking off and falling everywhere. While we
were waiting to start the walk, one fell off not 10 feet from us and about
2 feet from a lady waiting to cross the crosswalk. If that thing had hit her,
we'd have been administering first aid instead of going on the walk. I'm sure
we see fewer birds on windy days, but I've not consistently recorded the wind
speed. I think when the wind is up, the birds are a little worried about flying
into a tree. They want to land on a branch on their feet. I suspect they are
worried about taking a header into a branch. Anyway, we recorded only 12 birds,
just two above the minimum for a week 43.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
Actually, I think we were lucky to get 12. We saw some Western Bluebirds in
an unusual place (maintenance yard), and were fortunate to see a Black-throated Gray
Warbler. Nothing much else to brag about.
The date: 10/25/10
The week number: 43
The walk number: 1062
The weather: 68 F, partly cloudy, breezy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Jim Carlblom, Vicky Brennan, John Beckett, Beth Moore
The birds (12):
Scrub Jay
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Acorn Woodpecker
American Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Western Bluebird
Bushtit
Lesser Goldfinch
Black Phoebe
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
10/25/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html
10/18/10
What an incredible walk! We observed 29 species, which is 8 above the record
for a week 42, and only 2 short of the all time record for any week.
It was the fourth highest-scoring walk of all time, coming
in at 2.85387. At number three was the walk of 4/26/10, and
number two was the walk of 8/27/02 when we
saw only 21 birds, but that was very unusual for the heat of summer.
The number one scoring walk of all time was the walk of 3/30/06 when
we recorded 31 species, the record high.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
And we did it without the benefit of a Rock Pigeon, Acorn Woodpecker,
or a parakeet of any kind. The record was within our sights. Among many
highlights were the two groups of Western Meadowlarks and Western Bluebirds.
They were on both athletic fields. But the biggest find was a Cassin's Vireo,
only the fourth time we've seen that one on campus. It was a sensational walk.
The date: 10/18/10
The week number: 42
The walk number: 1061
The weather: 64 F, cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Darren Dowell, Barbara Ellis,
David Werntz, Beth Moore, John Beckett
The birds (29):
Scrub Jay
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
American Crow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
European Starling
Common Raven
Bushtit
Lesser Goldfinch
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Bewick's Wren
Black Phoebe
Western Meadowlark
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Band-tailed Pigeon
Western Bluebird
Nuttall's Woodpecker
American Robin
House Wren
Orange-crowned Warbler
California Towhee
Cassin's Vireo
Cedar Waxwing
Cooper's Hawk
Hawk, sp.
Falcon, sp.
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
10/19/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html
10/11/10
Our 24 birds set a new record for week 41, smashing the old one by three!
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
The yellow- rumped warblers are back at last and we also saw our first
ruby-crowned kinglet of the season, courtesy of Viveca and, of course,
the kinglet. We had a few minor disappointments. The black-throated grays,
so prevalent last week, chose not to spread the wealth, we failed to get a
scrub jay, Vicki has still not bagged a visual on a red-whiskered bulbul,
and acorn woodpeckers, instead of being the easy capture of the last
couple of months, appeared at the absolute last possible moment (I saw four of them
basking on a palm frond across the street from Arms as I returned from the walk).
In addition to now being officially in the winter season, as heralded by the kinglet and
yellow-rumps, we had not one but two highlight birds, a western meadowlark foraging on
the grassy area inside the track and a red-naped sapsucker cavorting in easy view in a tree
near the recycling center at the north end of campus. Since 1986, we have encountered
meadowlarks on just 2% of our walks and there is only a one in a hundred chance of our
intersecting a red-naped sapsucker. We had a new record, pleasant company, and two
rare sightings. This qualifies as a seriously good walk.
The date: 10/11/10
The week number: 41
The walk number: 1060
The weather: 83 F, full sun
The walkers: John Beckett, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Darren Dowell, Hannah Dvorak-Carbone, Vicky Brennan
The birds (24):
Rock Dove
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
American Crow
European Starling
Band-tailed Pigeon
Downy Woodpecker
Bewick's Wren
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Western Meadowlark
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Townsend's Warbler
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Black Phoebe
Red-tailed Hawk
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-naped Sapsucker
American Goldfinch
Common Raven
-- John Beckett
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
10/14/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html
10/5/10
What a difference a week makes! It was 108 F last week when we walked and a cool 60 F
today. Quite a nice swing of 48 degrees. The rain that wiped us out
yesterday held off today although the threat was there. And just after
we finished the sprinkles started. Perfect. We observed 19 species,
three above the median for a week 40, so we got a positive walk score.
We are on track to set a record high score for the year. I will be surprised
if we don't.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
I was a little surprised we didn't see a Yellow-rumped Warbler. According to my
records, there was a 60% chance we'd see one this week. But we didn't. Next week
is week 41 and the probability goes up to 95%. It stays at 100% thereafter until
week 13 of next year.
The Black-throated Gray Warblers were out in full force. We saw about 5 of them.
Nice birds. We also saw some American Goldfinches for the first time in a while.
A few gulls passed by, which often happens when it gets as cloudy as it did today.
The route map for the walk is at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/route_map.htm
It looks a lot like the map for last week, which is also at the same site. I didn't
walk down towards Cahill to look for the Western Bluebird, as I did last week,
but Darren and John did. I should have thrown them the iPhone. They didn't see
the bird.
The date: 10/5/10
The week number: 40
The walk number: 1059
The weather: 60 F, cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, John Beckett, Darren Dowell, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Tom Palfrey
The birds (19):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Black Phoebe
Gull, sp.
Orange-crowned Warbler
Lesser Goldfinch
Black-throated Gray Warbler
American Goldfinch
Red-masked Parakeet
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Raven
Band-tailed Pigeon
Bushtit
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
10/5/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html