Caltech Birding

9/25/07

Wow, we had a warbler outbreak. We saw four different kinds of warblers, but we did not see the Yellow-rumped Warler. We are saving that one for next week. My charts say it was 20% probable today, but it will be 65% probable next week, and 95% probable the week after. The four warblers were Wilson's, Orange-crowned, Townsend's, and Yellow.

We had a respectable total, 20 species observed, which places us quite a bit above average for a week 39 but short of the record 24. See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

Other birds of interest were Olive-sided Flycatcher, American Goldfinch, which we haven't seen for quite sometime, and Cedar Waxwing, the latter a sure sign that Fall has arrived. We also heard a Scrub Jay, which is getting to be a rarity on the walks. The Western Bluebird has flown the coop -- we did not see it on the light standard this time.

The stats:
The date: 9/25/07
The week number: 39
The walk number: 902
The weather: 79F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Ann Patterson, Viveca Sapin, Kent Potter
The birds (20):

Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Red-masked Parakeet
Wilson's Warbler
Lesser Goldfinch
Orange-crowned Warbler
Black Phoebe
Cedar Waxwing
Bushtit
American Goldfinch
Townsend's Warbler
Vaux's Swift
Yellow Warbler
Hummingbird, Selasphorus

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/25/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

9/18/07
Fall is in the air. It was a cool 73F for the walk. Next week we have a 20% chance for a Yellow-rumped Warbler and the week after a 65% chance. After that we should be solid on those until week 17 of next year. We recorded 18 species on the walk, well short of the record high of 25 for week 38. The record low is 12 for this week. See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

We had a couple of good finds. For one thing, the solitary Western Bluebird is hanging in there on one of the light standards on the South athletic field. He's all by his lonesome and has been that way for a few weeks now. Viveca spotted the real find though. On the north side of campus she spotted what turned out to be an Ash-throated Flycatcher. This bird was perched low in a tree and wasn't one bit shy. We all got good looks. This was the 12th sighting of an Ash-throated on the birdwalks. We have seen one during week 38 one other time. We also got Vaux's Swift, lots of Lesser Goldfinch, and a Selasphorus-style Hummingbird. All in all, a pretty good walk.

The stats:
The date: 9/18/07
The week number: 38
The walk number: 901
The weather: 73F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Beth Moore, Viveca Sapin, Matt Bradford

The birds (18):

Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Raven
Black Phoebe
Bushtit
Western Bluebird
Red-masked Parakeet
Lesser Goldfinch
Band-tailed Pigeon
Vaux's Swift
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Hummingbird, Selasphorus

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/19/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

9/11/07
Today was the 900th walk of the Caltech bird walks. Wow, 900. The group of 6 walkers tried to make it historic in other ways but we finished with only 15 species, well short of the record 23 for week 37 but well above last year's 6 for week 37 (and the all-time, all-week, record low). 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 good birds. We saw Vaux Swift, Western Bluebird, Lesser Goldfinch, Selasphorus-style Hummingbird, and Western Wood-Pewee. It's still the "common" ones that are giving us trouble. No Scrub Jay, Mockingbird, or Mourning Dove today. For the second week in a row, we had to mark down Parakeet, sp., which is aggravating since it creates another bird species to deal with on the plots.

Kent spotted a wren of some kind on his way back to his office. I got his email at 1:45 pm and rushed over to have a look since he said Canyon Wren was a possibility and that would be new to the Caltech list. But I couldn't raise a wren when I got there. So, Wren sp. it is. I already have an entry for Wren sp. so that doesn't bother me.

The stats:
The date: 9/11/07
The week number: 37
The walk number: 900
The weather: 87F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Beth Moore, Viveca Sapin, Ann Patterson, Kent Potter

The birds (15):

Rock Pigeon
House Sparrow
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Vaux Swift
Black Phoebe
Western Bluebird
Lesser Goldfinch
Western Wood-Pewee
Parakeet, sp.
Bushtit
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Wren, sp.

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/11/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu

9/4/07
We had a reasonable number of birds per eyeball today, 1.67, but we didn't have too many eyeballs. We had 3 people, each sporting two eyes. So we wound up barely making double digits, recording 10 species. The record low for a week 36 is 8, so at least we beat that. See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

Undoubtedly, the threat of hot weather dissuaded some from joining in. The high temperature on campus the past two days has been about 107 deg F. That is hot. Today, it was about 95 during the walk, about 8 deg F cooler than at the same time the past two days but still plenty hot.

Despite the conditions, there was a highlight bird. We saw a Nuttall's Woodpecker on a palm tree at the south end of the South Athletic field. One lonely Western Bluebird was on a light standard in the same area. No Bushtits and no Hummingbirds today.

The stats:
The date: 9/4/07
The week number: 36
The walk number: 899
The weather: 95F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Simon Radford, Kent Potter

The birds (10):

Rock Pigeon
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Western Bluebird
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Black Phoebe
Parakeet, sp.

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/4/07
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu