9/28/05
Hot and frustrating. Frustrating because we saw and heard a couple of birds
we could not identify. One was definitely a warbler but not a
yellow-rumped. It's down as a Warbler, sp. The other
was a little drab bird making a buzzy sound. I saw it well enogh to think
it was not a wren but I could have been wrong. We did see
a Bewick's Wren later on and it definitley was not that.
We didn't see many birds. We got 10 species. Last year during the same
week, week 39, we got 24, the record for a week 39.
And 20 the year before and 18 the year before that,
but in 2001 during week 39 we only saw 7, the record low for a week 39.
So at least we didn't set the record low. But we came in second.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
The stats:
The date: 9/28/05
The week number: 39
The walk number: 801
The weather: 90 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter
The birds (10):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Black Phoebe
Bewick's Wren
Warbler, sp.
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
9/28/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
9/21/05
A momentous walk! It was the 800th walk of the series,
dating back to 1986. The combined number of walks taken
by the walkers was 918. So the experience was there; the birds were not.
It was a bit disappointing. We expected to see warblers
but we did not. We expected more; we got less. We got 13
species, not exactly the record for week 38 of the year, which
was 25 set in 2002, but above the low of 9 seen in 1999.
So, this is the iffy part of the season; it can be good and
it can be bad. Today was in-between.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
The stats:
The date: 9/21/05
The week number: 38
The walk number: 800
The weather: 84 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Carolyn Ash
The birds (13):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
White-throated Swift
Bushtit
Band-tailed Pigeon
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Turkey Vulture
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
9/21/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
9/13/05
A lot better than last week. Not the 19 we got during week 37
last year nor the record of 23 seen during week 37 in 2002,
but above the record low of 10 seen several times. Quite a range
on week 37. We are starting to get into the Fall season when
we start to see some good birds. We got 12 species today.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
We could have had one or two more; we saw two flocks of small birds;
one in Tournament Park, which could have been American Goldfinches
and one on Holliston, which could have been Cedar Waxwings.
Yes, it's Cedar Waxwing and Yellow-rumped Warbler time!
What we are really missing are the "regulars", such as Scrub Jay,
last seen two months ago on 7/12/05, Mockingbird, House Finch,
and Crow. The probability of seeing these during week 37
should have been 100%, 80%, 80%, and 100%, respectively,
based on the probability plots on our web site. It must
be West Nile that's affecting them.
We did see some nice birds that made up for the regulars
being missing: Mallard (there are three this time), two kinds
of parakeets, Nuttall's Woodpecker, and a nice Rufous Hummingbird.
The stats:
The date: 9/13/05
The week number: 37
The walk number: 799
The weather: 70 F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Kent Potter
The birds (12):
Rock Pigeon
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Mallard
Black Phoebe
Red-masked Parakeet
Band-tailed Pigeon
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Rufous Hummingbird
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
9/13/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
9/8/05
Not very good. In fact we broke the record in
the wrong direction for week 36 of a year by 2 bird species.
We got 8 species; previous low for a week 36 was 10.
We had high hopes as the weather had cooled
some. But we did not see a bird of any kind
until we reached Tournament Park. Wow.
See the birds_epoch plot at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm.
The stats:
The date: 9/8/05
The week number: 36
The walk number: 798
The weather: 77 F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter
The birds (8):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Band-tailed Pigeon
Bushtit
Respectfully submitted,
Alan
9/8/05
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu