Bill Hilton Jr., executive director of Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, is one of only about 150 active scientists in the world authorized to capture and band Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris). Each summer, his famous Hummingbird Mornings presentations delight thousands of hummingbird enthusiasts around the country.

Find out how to attract these amazing feathered dynamos to your yard and then get up close and personal with hummers as Bill captures and bands them. You don't want to miss this chance to learn from a nationally known expert and exceptionally entertaining and informative lecturer. Satisfaction guaranteed!

In the elegant words of one audience member who saw Bill's 2003 presentation in Virginia, "I cannot remember the last time I so thoroughly enjoyed a seminar as yours today in Fredericksburg."

Hummingbird Mornings weekends may include banding demonstrations, slide lectures, teacher workshops, student programs, activities for senior citizens, or any combination thereof--including training in the exciting new GLOBE/Operation RubyThroat hummingbird observation protocols. Admission fees vary with the site and door prizes may be awarded. All proceeds go to support the work of Hilton Pond Center and other non-profit organizations hosting the events.

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6-8 August 2010

OTHER FESTIVAL EVENTS:
Hummingbird games and crafts for kids; information booth on hummingbird gardening, feeder care, and hummingbird biology; shade grown coffee tastings, interactive displays; hummingbird photography booth; interpretive programs on native Kentucky wildife; and more!

Admission Fee: $3 children/$5 adults for one day; $4 children/$6 adults for both days; $3 for seminar only; $6 package for the entire weekend. (Does not include Friday workshop or dinner below.)

FRIDAY WORKSHOP:
9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. A special training workshop will be offered for adults--birders, gardeners, and especially K-16 teachers--interested in learning how to collect and report observations about Ruby-throated Hummingbird behavior through The GLOBE Program and EarthTrek. (Home-school teachers also have found the project very useful.) The workshop includes information on developing a Schoolyard or Backyard Hummingbird Habitat. There will also be opportunities for helping take measurements, up-close views, and photography for each participant. A $10 fee includes materials, lunch, and Friday admission to the nature station; advance registration is required by contacting Cindy Earls via E-mail or phone at (270) 924-2020.

FRIDAY DINNER:
6-9:30 p.m. "Dinner With Hilton and the Hummingbirds" is limited to 40 participants and includes an up-close look at hummingbird banding, a catered barbecue dinner, and a slide presentation about hummers on both ends of their migrational path. Cost $15; reservation & full deposit required; Call (270) 924-2020 to reserve your space.

Operation RubyThroat T-shirts will be available for $20; proceeds support hummingbird research & education.

DIRECTIONS:
From Nashville: Take I-24 N to Cadiz KY exit; go west on US68/KY80 for 10 miles to Land Between the Lakes; turn off onto road called the Trace and go north; Woodlands Nature Station is 12 miles.
From St. Louis MO and Paducah KY: Take I-24 S to Grand Rivers KY exit; go south about 18 miles to turn off to Woodlands Nature Station on left.

Check lodging availability at Kenlake State Resort Park.

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Mt. Cuba Center (630 acres) is a non-profit botanical garden and historical preserve located on Barley Mill Road near Wilmington in the gently rolling hills of the Delaware Piedmont. It preserves rural pastures and fields, protects local forests, and includes various woodland wildflower gardens and formal landscapes. Its woodland gardens produce some of the most spectacular displays of wildflowers in the mid-Atlantic region. The Center is open to the public for a fee, but admission must be arranged in advance.

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If you like to shop on-line please become a member of iGive, through which more than 750 on-line stores from Amazon to Barnes & Noble, L.L. Bean to Lands' End--and even iTunes!--will donate a percentage of your purchase price in support of Hilton Pond Center and Operation RubyThroat. For every new member who signs up and makes an on-line purchase iGive will donate an ADDITIONAL $5 to the Center. You can even do Web searches through iGive and earn a penny per search for the cause! Please enroll by going to the iGive Web site; more than 200 members have signed up to help. It's a painless, important way for YOU to support our on-going work in conservation, education, and research. By the way, if you add the iGive Toolbar to your browser and register Operation RubyThroat as your preferred charity, it'll be even easier to help Hilton Pond when you shop.