This Week at Hilton Pond

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

Like Nature? Don't Cut Your Grass (8-21 May 2007)

Feel guilty about not cutting your lawn? You shouldn't, or at least that's the premise of our current installment of "This Week at Hilton Pond." For a photo essay about what showed up last month when we parked the mower at Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, please visit the installment for 8 May 2007 at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek070508.html.

As always there's a list of all birds banded or recaptured, a question about an unidentified flower, an update on last year's hummingbird nest at Mountain Lake Hotel in Virginia, and a personal comment about the 30th anniversary of our first ornithology course.

Figure 1. Like all strawberries, the Indian strawberry (Duchesnea indica) bears its plentiful seeds--called “achenes”--outside of the pulp. This plant often pops up in uncut lawns. (Photograph copyright Bill Hilton Jr.)

Return Of The Ruby-Throats, 2007 (22-31 May 2007)

We can at last report that the end of May was a great time for ruby-throated hummingbirds at Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History. We had our fastest start ever for newly captured birds AND for old hummers that returned after being banded in previous years.

For a photo essay about our bumper crop of hummingbirds, please visit "This Week at Hilton Pond" for May 2007 at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek070522.html . There's also a picture of a female ruby-throat with plumage characteristics worth noting.

As always, we include a tally of all birds banded or recaptured--and there were interesting individuals in both categories--plus some miscellaneous nature notes. We also include identification for that mysterious purple flower that popped up at the Center when we intentionally let the lawn grow.

Figure 2. At Hilton Pond, when we capture ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris), such as the adult male above, we apply a serially numbered aluminum band and color mark each bird with green dye on the breast or throat. (Photograph copyright Bill Hilton Jr.)
 

June Is Bustin' Out TWICE Over (1-14 June 2007)

June definitely IS "bustin' out all over" at Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, so much so that we include TWO photos of each of several organisms in evidence the past fortnight. Of particular interest were a summer tanager with perplexing plumage and an American robin with a very bad case of scaly-leg. We also spotted a couple of reptiles engaged in reproductive activity and some native plants doing the same.

To view a photo essay about all this late spring activity, please visit the 1-14 June 2007 installment of "This Week at Hilton Pond" at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek070601.html

As always we include a tally of all birds banded and recaptured--the list of returning ruby-throated hummingbirds continues to grow--plus some miscellaneous nature notes.

Figure 3. In spring, male Carolina anoles (Anolis carolinensis) often appear bright green--the result of warmer ambient temperatures and a rush of hormones associated with sexual arousal. Males defend territories and attract females by extending a bright red dewlap. (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.