This Week at Hilton Pond
Bill
Hilton Jr.
Executive
Director
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
York, South Carolina 29745 USA
Mid-October
is always an interesting time at Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, with
various plants and animals from winter finches to fire ants
to Schweinitz’s Sunflowers showing different levels of activity
as the seasons change. To read about and view an assortment
of these organisms please visit “This Week at Hilton Pond”
for 15-21 October 2006 at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek061015.html
Figure 1.
Northern Cardinals that found plenty of natural foods during
the summer flock to feeders in increasing numbers each fall.
(Photograph copyright Bill Hilton Jr.)
A Week Of
Rufous Hummingbirds: Perdita, et
al. (22-31 October 2006)
Even
though Ruby-throated hummingbirds are the only breeding
species of trochilid in the eastern U.S., it’s becoming more and more common
to see other vagrant hummers in the Carolinas and elsewhere--in winter, no less.
One of these, a rufous hummingbird,
has visited the same South Carolina home four years in a row. For details please see the
22-31 October 2006 installment of “This Week at Hilton Pond”
at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek061022.html
Figure 2.
Perdita, a female rufous
hummingbird, was banded in 2003 in Rock Hill SC and has appeared each winter since
at the same feeding station--far away from the species’
“normal” wintering range in central Mexico.
(Photograph copyright Bill Hilton Jr.)
White Throat, Yellow Lores (1-7 November
2006)
White-throated
sparrows, which breed in New England and southern Canada, are a common winter resident across
the southeastern U.S. Nonetheless, they are often misidentified--especially
by beginning birders. For hints on differentiating this
bird from other sparrows, please view the 1-7 November 2006
installment of “This Week at Hilton Pond” at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek061101.html
Figure 3.
The white-throated sparrow, named for its spotless chin
feathers, could just have easily been called the “yellow-lored
sparrow.” (Photograph copyright Bill Hilton Jr.)
Amur Honeysuckle: Another Invasive (8-14 November 2006)
One
of the greatest dangers in importing ornamental flora from
other continents is that they often escape and--in the absence
of their normal diseases and herbivores--become invasive.
One such plant is a shrub called amur honeysuckle, brought from Asia more that a hundred years ago. For
a discussion of the pleasures and problems of this attractive
plant, please see “This Week at Hilton Pond” for 8-14 November
2006 at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek061108.html
Figure 4.
The berries amur honeysuckle,
Lonicera maackii, are
pleasing to the eye--but are a source of potential danger
for native habitats. (Photograph copyright Bill Hilton Jr.)
To help support the education, research, and conservation work of Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, please see http://www.hiltonpond.org/FundingMain.html
. Editor.
