9/9/03

Walkers: Lonely Kent
Temp: ~78F
High Clouds

Rock Dove
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Band-tailed Pigeon
Red-masked Parakeet
Starling
Bushtit

9/16/03

Glenn, Kent and Bill went. Cloudless skies, some haze; temperatures ranged from 77.2 F to 78.4 F. We found 12 species:

Rock Dove	Crow	House Sparrow
House Finch	Scrub Jay	Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker	Mourning Dove	Band-tailed Pigeon
Turkey Vulture	Bush-tit	Red-masked Parakeet

The Acorn Woodpeckers are really working the oak trees on the northwest campus. I figure they're gathering acorns and stashing them in their palm tree banks; I see them flying back and forth all day, sometimes four or five in a single oak tree. (Three outside my window just now, as I looked while trying to see if there was anything else to write.) We look forward to another exciting walk next Tuesday. Bill.

9/30/03

Caltech Birders:

The birds have come back to Caltech. And so has Jon Feenstra. Maybe that's why the birds
have come back. I know that if yesterday's walk were left up to Glenn and me, we'd have only registered 17 species. But with Jon along for most of the walk, we bagged 20. You know how it goes. He hears a chirp and it's a new bird. That certainly was the case for the Common yellowthroat. Ok, so maybe it was more than a chirp. It was the complete call and I even
heard it. But I wouldn't have been able to list it. So thank you, Jon.

It's a pity that the machine Jon does his research on is working so well at the moment. He says he has to go full bore on it while it's working because there are stretches of time when it doesn't work so well. So that's why he's missed so many bird walks recently. And here I thought it was the hot weather and lack of available birds. Shame on me. I hate to root for an instrument failure but ...

The list for Tuesday 30 Sep 2003 (sunny, about 81F, walkers, Jon, Glenn, and me):

Rock Dove	Scrub Jay	Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow	Mourning Dove	House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird	Acorn Woodpecker	Crow
Orange-crowned Warbler	Red-masked Parakeet	Savannah Sparrow
Common Yellowthroat	Bushtit	Yellow-rumped Warbler
Starling	Black Phoebe	Raven
Cedar Waxwings (boat loads of 'em)
Band-tailed Pigeon (credit Glenn for this one!)

Alan