9/30/08
I had high hopes for this walk. It was week 40 and based
on historical data we had a 60% chance of seeing a
Yellow-rumped Warbler. And last week I said Fall was coming.
It didn't come. It was dreadfully hot, sehr caliente!
I know, I'm mixing languages, but my brain
was cooking under my hat. I probably should
write this tomorrow when I'm cooled down.
Now for the big news. We set an all-time record for
a week 40! In the wrong direction. We saw 8 species
and the record low was 11 for a week 40. We were 3 under the
previous minimum for a week 40! Proof of global warming, I'd say.
Did I say it was hot? It was hot.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
Glenn had the best idea and it came about 15 minutes into
the walk. We were in the middle of Tournament Park, we were
hot, and we only had about two birds. He suggested we forfeit the walk.
Forfeit the walk? I said "no, no forfeits." But the longer we
walked the better that idea sounded.
There was a spectacular highlight, however, which unfortunately
I was the only one to witness. I was looking towards the football field
from the area just south of IPAC when I saw a Cooper's Hawk swoop
down on a squirrel that was on the ground near a tree. A brief
battle ensued and the squirrel fended off the hawk.
The Coopr's then flew up into a nearby tree where we all
got a good look at it. I thought a little about the cruelty of nature,
how that hawk was out to kill and eat or eat and kill that little squirrel.
How painful that would be. And then my mind wandered over
to how lions and other big cats are sometimes seen eating their
"kill" while the victim is still alive. I felt a bit sad that all this
death and destruction and pain has to take place in the world.
And that reminded me of the stock market. How sad.
The stats:
The date: 9/30/08
The week number: 40
The walk number: 955
The weather: 97F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Viveca Sapin-Areeda
The birds (8):
Rock Pigeon
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Bushtit
Cooper's Hawk
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/30/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
9/23/08
Fall is coming. Warblers are in evidence! We got 17 species
today and for a week 39 that's not bad, one above the median.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
The warblers were the Townsend's and the Orange-crowned. We also
saw a flock of Cedar Waxwings. And we saw three hummingbird species.
And a Turkey Vulture. Not a bad day at all. The disappointments
were the House Sparrow and the Mockingbird. Didn't see
hide nor feather of them. Odd. Two of the most common birds
of the area and we can't catch a glimpse. And some
say there's nothing to global warming. They must be out
of their minds.
The stats:
The date: 9/23/08
The week number: 39
The walk number: 954
The weather: 83F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Jim Carlblom, Beth Moore, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Ashish Mahabal
The birds (17):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Cedar Waxwing
Townsend's Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Turkey Vulture
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Black Phoebe
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Swift, sp.
Raven
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/23/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
9/16/08
Well we started slow but finished strong. We only had 3 birds when
we exited Tournament Park but we wound up with 16, a respectable two above
the median for a week 38. So not bad.
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 had highlights! We saw our first flock of Cedar Waxwings
of the Fall season and it was a big flock. Based on 1986 to 2007
data there is only about a 10% probability of seeing Cedar Waxwings
in week 38. By week 43 we should be above the 50% probability level.
The earliest Fall arrivals ever of these birds was week 37.
What else? We heard the Red-whiskered Bulbuls in the same
place south of IPAC where we saw them last week. And just as
Beth and I were about to enter Downs Lab and get back to
work we saw a Turkey Vulture sail overhead.
Ernie Franzgrote sent me an interesting note last week.
Recall that he was the co-founder of the walks.
His note inspired a little research that resulted in pinning
down the date of the first Caltech birdwalk. In the note
below, he was mistaken about the new life bird that I got on
that first "walk". It was a Townsend's Warbler,
not a MacGillivray's. But I realized after reading his note
that I could check my life list to find the date
of that walk. It was 15 October 1986, a Wednesday.
I had been saying 10 October 1986. We did not keep records of
the date of the walk in the first year or two, but this
nails down the date of the first walk. Also, if you haven't
seen his movies of Hummingbirds, you can view a sample
at the National Geographic website address he mentions.
It's spectacular.
####################################################################
Hi Alan!
Thanks for your weekly messages. I always enjoy reading your bird walk
descriptions. You might append the following note to one of your next
reports:
Note: Alan occasionally refers to the very first Caltech bird walk of
10/10/86, usually with regard to the low number (4) of species seen. As he
says, it was just a brown bag lunch in the park for the two of us. What he
doesn't mention is that one of the four species was a life bird for him. It
was a MacGillivray's Warbler (or at least that was our opinion). Whether it
was the correct I.D. or not, Alan was hooked and the rest is history.
Ernie Franzgrote
Thanks again,
Ernie
P.S. I'm flying to Peoria, Illinois tomorrow for my 60th (!) high-school
reunion. While I'm there I'm going to have two screenings of my hummingbird
DVD (one at Forest Park Nature Center and one at Central Illinois College;
they can each accommodate around 100 viewers). I hope the two venues aren't
inundated with people because there'll be an article about the talks in the
Peoria Journal Star tomorrow. By the way, have I told you that some of the
video from the DVD is displayed on the National Geographic website? Here is
a link to the video:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/01/hummingbirds/hummingbirds-video-interactive
############################################################################
It was good to hear from Ernie and I'm happy to now know exactly when that first
walk took place. I had to redo all my plots, of course, since this
changed all the week numbers for 1986, but that wasn't too bad.
They are all newly posted on the website.
The stats:
The date: 9/16/08
The week number: 38
The walk number: 953
The weather: 83F, partly cloudy
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Beth Moore, Viveca Sapin-Areeda
The birds (16):
Rock Pigeon
Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Crow
Black Phoebe
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Cedar Waxwing
Band-tailed Pigeon
Swift, sp.
Bushtit
Red-tailed Hawk
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Turkey Vulture
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/16/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
9/09/08
Well the dreaded week 37 is finally over with. That's the week
where the all-time low was recorded, 6 species. (Disclaimer:
the very first walk, on 10/10/86 produced only 4 birds, but
it wasn't really a walk. It was a brown bag lunch in Tournament
Park. Often I ignore the 8 walks in 1986 in the record
keeping since we were just establishg the route.) The low of 6 happened on
9/12/06 and the four walkers involved were... oh, I'm not
going to reveal that except to say I wasn't one of them!
Hooray for me. So, what was the lowest total seen when I was
on a walk? Seven. It happened the previous walk on 8/29/06.
So, it wasn't the fault of the 4 walkers on 9/12/06 that they
got such a low total -- we just ran into a bird drought.
Today we had a much better result, getting 14 species, one
above the median for a week 37.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
This was an exciting walk. My heart actually pounded at
one point. That was when I was looking at a Wilson's Warbler.
There were at least two, a male and a female, and they
were very welcome yellow sights. I love yellow birds.
The other excitement was caused by a flock of
Red-whiskered Bulbuls just south of the IPAC building.
These were the most bubuls we have seen on a walk.
Finally, as were walking south on Holliston
just west of the new solar panels being installed
on the parking structure, we were buzzed by 4 White-throated Swifts.
The weather was a little cooler, it was sunny out, the
birds were cooperating, it was a nice walk.
The stats:
The date: 9/09/08
The week number: 37
The walk number: 952
The weather: 80F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Beth Moore, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Kent Potter
The birds (14):
Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Black Phoebe
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Wilson's Warbler
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-masked Parakeet
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Bushtit
White-throated Swift
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/10/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu
9/02/08
Well we got off the dime on 9. We got 11 species this week.
Things should start to pick up soon.
See the plots at
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html
and
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm
I guess our big find was a Turkey Vulture, seen while I was down in the trenches in
the maintenance yard. Also seen about that
time by the people who stayed above grade were two Lesser Goldfinches.
It's good that we don't all go down into the pits of the
maintenance yard, otherwise we'd have 9 again and I'd
whine, whine, whine.
Snaky, spidery place that trench, but someone's gotta do it.
The stats:
The date: 9/02/08
The week number: 36
The walk number: 951
The weather: 90F, sunny
The walkers: Alan Cummings, Glenn Hamell, Beth Moore, Viveca Sapin-Areeda
The birds (11):
Rock Pigeon
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Black Phoebe
Bushtit
Turkey Vulture
Lesser Goldfinch
Hummingbird, sp.
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/03/08
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu