This Week at Hilton Pond

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

A Swarm Of . . . TermiteRoaches? (22-31 April 2007)

Due to travel and illness, we've fallen 'way behind on "This Week at Hilton Pond," but we still wanted to document an interesting phenomenon we observed the last week in April when a swarm of “Termiteroaches” filled the air in York, South Carolina.

To learn what we mean by "Termiteroaches," please visit our photo essay for 22-30 April 2007 at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek070422.html. As always we include a tally of birds banded or recaptured, plus an update on effects of the big Easter freeze.

Figure 1. This dark-bodied insect, believe it or not, is the winged reproductive stage of the more familiar ghostly white insect known as the Eastern subterranean termite (Reticulitermes flavipes). Or is it a cockroach? Photograph copyright by Bill Hilton Jr.


New River Birding & Nature Festival (1-7 May 2007)

Our latest installment of "This Week at Hilton Pond" is a photo essay about West Virginia's fifth New River Birding & Nature Festival, at which we presented back during the first week in May.

For a discussion of this exciting annual opportunity to view birds and other natural wonders of the Mountain State, please visit our edition for 1-7 May 2007 at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek070501.html. Included is a list of a few birds we banded or recaptured when we returned home to Hilton Pond.

On top of our travel and illness difficulties, the server that hosts our Web sites recently went off-line, making Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History and "Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project" inaccessible upon occasion. We've been scrambling to work around the problem and apologize for any inconvenience as you try to view our pages.

Figure 2. Newly emerging leaves of this chestnut oak, Quercus prinus, in West Virginia’s New River Gorge show tinges of red that soon will be eclipsed by green chlorophyll. Photograph copyright by 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