Caltech Birding

9/27/10

Well, I knew going out to the walk today that we were going to set a record and we did. We got the record for the most and fewest birds seen when the temperature was over 100 F. It was 108 F. Hot, miserably hot. And six of us walked it. The previous high temperature for a walk was 100 F, done three times. But never have we ventured out when it was more than 100 F. Until today. And we actually saw some birds, against all odds I'd say. Oh, we were below the median for a week 39 and we got a negative walk score. But, as far as I know, nobody died. We observed 12 species. The record low for a week 39 is 7, so we didn't approach that. But the median is 17, and we didn't approach that either. The record high for a week 39 is 24, set in 2004 when the temperature was a pleasant 72 F.

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 super highlight on the walkers side. Hannah Dvorak, now Hannah Dvorak-Carbone, returned to the walks after an absence of 14 years! Hannah was a graduate student when she walked with us in 1995 and 1996. She graduated, moved away, and is now back at Caltech working in the Tech Transfer Office. I hope the extreme heat doesn't dissuade her from future walks. Welcome back, Hannah!

I am adding a new feature to the website. I bought a new app for my iPhone. It's called Nike+ and, among other things, keeps track of where you are when you are doing a workout. At the end of the workout, or birdwalk in this case, you get time, distance, and pace information, and the number of calories you burned. In addition, a map is produced based on GPS positioning. So, on the website, under the "route map" tab is the map of the birdwalk we did today, along with some information about the walk. Go to http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/route_map.htm
to see it. We walked 1.94 miles today -- in extreme heat, I might add. We whacked off 185 calories.

The date: 9/27/10
The week number: 39
The walk number: 1058
The weather: 108 F, partly cloudy

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Hannah Dvorak-Carbone, Darren Dowell, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Beth Moore

The birds (12):

Scrub Jay
Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Lesser Goldfinch
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Red-crowned Parrot
Black Phoebe
Bushtit

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/27/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html

9/20/10

Fall is nearly upon us and that means the birds are a coming. This was week 38 and the record high is 25 and the median is 15. We got halfway in-between with 20 species observed. So, it was a good positive-scoring walk.

See the plots at http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/species_time.html and http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/bird_data/two_plots.htm

The walk featured an outstanding call by Darren. He pulled a "Feenstra". That's when you hear on single chirp and call out the name of the bird. And when the bird is a Black-throated Gray Warbler, you might want to question him when he makes such a call. I was pondering whether to ask him if the chirp from a Black-throated Gray was all that different from one from an Orange-crowned Warbler or from a Townsend's Warbler, when he spotted the bird and indeed it was a Black-throated Gray. So, I was glad I kept my mouth shut! Recall that Jon Feenstra did that once with a MacGillivray's Warbler and I was all over him about that one -- are your sure?, etc. Apparently he was, as the bird appeared before us shortly. Anyway, I was impressed on both occasions.

The Lark Sparrows were not out there on the south athletic field, even though I was sure they would be. Too bad. But we did get dome good ones. The Western Bluebirds were out on the north athletic field and we saw a flock of Cedar Waxwings, the first of those for the season. And some of the group saw a flock of Barn Swallows fly by. It's been awhile since we've seen those. All in all, a very good walk.

The date: 9/20/10
The week number: 38
The walk number: 1057
The weather: 80 F, sunny

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Vicky Brennan, Barbara Ellis, John Beckett, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Darren Dowell, Beth Moore
The birds (20):

Rock Pigeon
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Band-tailed Pigeon
Lesser Goldfinch
Downy Woodpecker
Western Bluebird
Cedar Waxwing
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Hummingbird, Selasphorus
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Wren, sp.
Red-masked Parakeet
Black Phoebe
Barn Swallow
Bushtit

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/23/10
http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html

9/13/10

This was an interesting walk because we saw some unusual birds, and, also, we observed 17 species, well above the median of 13 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

The Lark Sparrows are back on the south athletic field. That is the big news. We also observed a Warbling Vireo and an Orange-crowned Sparrow. I have been seeing the Western Bluebird out on the north athletic field quite regularly recently, but we missed that one. Fall is definitely approaching. Only a couple of more weeks and the Yellow-rumped Warblers will be upon us. And they should bring some of their other warbler friends.

The date: 9/13/10
The week number: 37
The walk number: 1056
The weather: 82 F, sunny

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Kent Potter, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, John Beckett, Darren Dowell, Beth Moore

The birds (17):

Rock Pigeon
Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Bushtit
Lesser Goldfinch
House Wren
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Lark Sparrow
Band-tailed Pigeon
Black Phoebe
Warbling Vireo
Orange-crowned Warbler
Hummingbird, Selasphorus

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/15/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html

9/8/10

We had a good walk and we nearly set a record. We observed 17 species, just one short of 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

We had a lot of highlight birds. We saw the House Wren, California Towhee, and Red-whiskered Bulbul in the maintenance yard. Then a few minutes later on the north athletic field we saw the Say's Phoebe and the Western Bluebird. Later we saw a Vaux's Swift wafting its way along Wilson. The weather was a super-nice 65 F and that probably helped a lot.

The date: 9/8/10
The week number: 36
The walk number: 1055
The weather: 65 F, cloudy

The walkers: Alan Cummings, Jim Carlblom, John Beckett, Viveca Sapin-Areeda, Vicky Brennan

The birds (17):

Mourning Dove
House Finch
Anna's Humminbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Crow
Band-tailed Pigeon
California Towhee
House Wren
Red-masked Parakeet
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Say's Phoebe
Black Phoebe
Western Bluebird
Vaux's Swift
Lesser Goldfinch
Hawk, sp.
Hummingbird, Selasphorus

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Cummings
9/10/10

http://birdwalks.caltech.edu/index.html