This Week at Hilton Pond

Bill Hilton Jr.
Executive Director
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
York, South Carolina 29745 USA

Yellowbelly Sliders Revisted (22-31 March 2007)

We got lots of feedback about our recent "Signs of Spring" installment--especially our comments about yellowbelly sliders sunning on a fallen tree. So "This Week at Hilton Pond" we're revisiting the turtle topic. The photo essay for 22-31 March 2007 includes numerous close-up photos of yellowbelly sliders, hints for how to sex them, and questions about their eyes and "turtle flies." To view our current effort, please visit http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek070322.html

As always, we include a tally of all birds banded or recaptured. This week's installment also includes numerous phenology notes--such as our first ruby-throated hummingbird of the season--and a photo of a principal cause of pollen in the Piedmont.

Figure 1. This old female yellowbelly slider (Trachemys scripta scripta) appears to be roaring, but perhaps she’s just exhaling to eliminate excess body heat while sunning on a log. Photograph copyright Bill Hilton Jr.

Record Cold And Spring’s Sweet Smell Of . . . Death (1-9 April 2007)

Like many locales in the Carolinas, Hilton Pond Center awoke to a very hard freeze on Easter morning, which caused environmental problems we first detected with our sense of smell. The newspapers have been full of articles about how the cold will hurt this year's peach harvest, but what about damage to trees themselves? Many tender new leaves were killed by cold, which undoubtedly will have lasting impact on woody plants--to say nothing of caterpillars that would have eaten those leaves AND hungry birds that will be looking for caterpillars as they pass through in migration. Our sense of smell and how it's related to the potential long-term devastation wrought by a late cold snap is the topic for our 1-9 April 2007 "This Week at Hilton Pond" photo essay, accessible at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek070401.html

As always we include a tally of birds banded, a list of recaptures (of which there were several old-timers), and miscellaneous nature notes.

Figure 2. Tender spring leaves on many trees in the Southeast were killed outright by sub-freezing temperatures over Easter weekend 2007. The flower on this mulberry seems to have survived, but the dead leaf isn’t much good for anything except a temporary hiding place for a millipede. Photograph copyright Bill Hilton Jr.

Brown-headed Cowbird: The “Black Vagabond” (10-21 April 2007)

The virtues of the brown-headed cowbird are always up for debate among birders, but one has to admire a native species that is successful--even at the expense of other native species. For some historical perspective on this promiscuous "social parasite," visit our "This Week at Hilton Pond" photo essay for 10-21 April 2007 at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek070410.html

We provide, as always, our banding results for the period, with info about two VERY old individuals we recaptured. There's also a follow-up photo on the impact of our big Easter freeze, plus other miscellaneous nature notes--including info about our first banded hummingbird of the season.

Figure 3. The male brown-headed cowbird, Molothrus ater, has a chocolate head and iridescent black body very different in color from the drab, mousey, gray-brown of the female. Photograph copyright Bill Hilton Jr.

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