JUNE 2013 AT HILTON POND:
FROM TERMITE DEVASTATION TO
A GERIATRIC HUMMINGBIRD

In my continuing effort to catch up on posting "This Week at Hilton Pond" AND to maintain continuity in reporting phenological happenings at Hilton Pond Center, I offer the following installment covering all of June 2013; it documents everything from irreparable termite damage at the Center . . . to the power of publicity . . . to an interesting observation about a "Methuselah" hummingbird. Abbreviated versions of most entries below appeared in some form on the Center's Facebook page while others--and several images--are brand new.

Happy Nature Watching!

BILL HILTON JR.

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

1 June

Not many birds banded lately at Hilton Pond Center in part because I've been cleaning out the old but heretofore useful storage shed (circa 1940, perhaps?), all in anticipation of replacing a tin roof battered through the years by falling tree limbs. Unfortunately, after moving crates from one of the darkest corners I discovered a colony of millions of Carpenter Ants (above) has worked its way through much of the superstructure--to say nothing of a termite infestation of which I was unaware. It looks like the 20'x20' building (once used as our banding shack) is a complete loss and will need to be torn down--'way too big a job for one amateur demolitionist. Between lightning strikes and insect damage, nature is taking an expensive toll this summer. Woe be us.

Birds banded today at the Center:

1 House Finch

3 June

Two waves of thunderstorms yesterday evening and overnight brought 1.77" of rain to Hilton Pond Center. After a dry week, the precipitation was much-needed and helped stabilize the pond itself--which had dropped three inches.

Birds banded today at the Center:

5 House Finches

4 June

Birds banded today at the Center:

1 Mourning Dove
5 House Finches

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

5 June

I've been getting lots of e-mail and calls at Hilton Pond Center from folks lamenting low numbers of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at their feeders; grainy photo above--taken today through window glass--helps explain what's going on. The image is an adult female RTHU. Look closely and you'll see a grayish like across her upper breast; I call this a "nest line"--a place where an incubating female's feathers have gotten flattened a bit by the edge of the nest cup. The lack of activity at feeders is in part because these females are busy not feeding but keeping eggs (or chicks) warm Males are just standing by waiting for nestlings to fledge so they can chase after them and the suddenly available adult females. Keep your feeders fresh and your hummers will return!

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

For anyone still doubting the power of good publicity, the screenshot above shows what happened to daily hit numbers on our Operation RubyThroat Web site (www.rubythroat.org) in mid-May when Charles Seabrook'scolumn for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution dealt with my hummingbird research here and abroad.

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center
Article © Atlanta Journal-Constitution

To read Charlie's article, click on the image above to open a larger version in a new browser window.

Birds banded today at the Center:

1 House Finch

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

6 June

Nature's assault on Hilton Pond Center. During the storms last night, strong winds and heavy rain (2.04") toppled a big Winged Elm tree that fell across the main road just above our main gate. Fortunately, the highway department came during the night and cleared the road; I spent all morning cleaning up debris. Unfortunately, we lost another tree and some of the natural buffer between the old farmhouse and road traffic. The tree-fall also made a heckuva mess of a thicket that had been used extensively by brush-loving birds such as Brown Thrashers (recent fledgling, above) and Eastern Towhees. Entropy marches on . . . .

Birds banded today at the Center:

2 House Finches

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

7 June

Whew! I've been burning midnight oil to finish the third and final photo essay from my 2013 midwinter Neotropical hummingbird expeditions, and at last I'm done! "This Week at Hilton Pond" for 8-17 Mar 2013 is a summary of work done in Belize by undergrad students from Keystone College. I think it's my most extensive write-up yet with tons of images of birds (Tricolored Heron, above), other animals, and tropical flora. (As always, the installment is optimized for smart phone and tablet, so you might want to download it to read at your leisure.)

9 June

Birds banded today at the Center:

11 House Finches

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

10 June

Over the weekend I finally posted the last of three summary reports for Operation RubyThroat's 2013 midwinter hummingbird trips to the Neotropics. Now it's time to go back and fill in the blanks for nature happenings at Hilton Pond Center since I got back in mid-March. The next several installments do just that, so to get caught up please refer to the latest photo essay for 18-31 Mar 2013, which includes discussions about captured birds such as Pine Siskins (above).

Birds banded today at the Center:

5 House Finches

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

11 June

During my one-hour 16-mile bicycle ride around the back roads of western York County today I counted no less than four freshly killed Black Ratsnakes on the asphalt--and this was on byways with relatively low traffic. The amount of wildlife carnage on paved roads across America is almost incomprehensible; it's a wonder there's ANY wildlife left. (Note the not-so-funny roadkill decals above, available from various Web sources.)

Birds banded today at the Center:

3 House Finches

12 June

Birds banded today at the Center:

2 House Finches

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

13 June

With this week's rain, the rain gauge at Hilton Pond Center shows we've had 5.75" of precipitation this month. That's 26.58" for the year, compared to 41.32 for all of 2012. It's hard to explain how pleased I am the pond itself is creeping ever closer to being full after so many years of seeing ever-widening mud flats around its edge--as in the summer of 2003 (above).

Birds banded today at the Center:

1 Downy Woodpecker
2 House Finches

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

14 June

I'm still playing catch-up for those "lost" weeks in April & May; "This Week at Hilton Pond" for 1-14 Apr 2013 just went on-line as my latest installment. Numerous photos (mostly birds) and day-by-day banding totals are included, plus a note about my e-book and a disconcerting observation about a hummingbird I caught with pink urine (above). Don't forget to scroll down for a list of some "old" birds that we banded in previous years. Happy Nature Watching!

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

15 June

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are visiting feeders at Hilton Pond Center much more frequently this week, but according to several new or returning hummers I trapped this afternoon they're feeding on more than sugar water. One adult female (see photo) was particularly covered with pollen, and its position on her crown indicated she's been visiting the big blossoms of the Trumpet Creeper, Campsis radicans. As always, nectar-laden orange flowers on these vines start to open just when nestling hummingbirds are about ready to fledge--and in need of high octane nutrition from their mothers.

Birds banded today at the Center:

1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
2 House Finches

16 June

Birds banded today at the Center:

5 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

18 June

My mind is boggled. I was running hummer traps this evening at Hilton Pond Center and caught a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird (that's her in the photo above) that already bore a band (Y15972). I knew this was one of my locally banded birds and I also knew the band was from an old series--but I didn't realize HOW old until I checked my files.

I caught this same bird here at the Center in 2012,
in 2011,
in 2010,
in 2009,
in 2008,
in 2007,
and in 2006 when I banded her as a recently fledged immature.

That means this bird is now in her 8th year, and it also means she's made a ton of trips between Hilton Pond and the Neotropics. Think maybe she knows the way?

Like I said, my mind is boggled--especially since the reported longevity record for a free-flying Ruby-throated Hummingbird is nine years.

Birds banded today at the Center:

1 Carolina Chickadee
4 House Finches

19 June

Birds banded today at the Center:

1 House Finch

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

20 June

House Finches are year-round gluttons of Hilton Pond Center's black sunflower seeds; today they descended on our feeders and ate several pounds. I banded 19 of them, mostly recent fledglings; of these nearly all were brown and therefore of unknown sex. The exception was a youngster (above) starting to replace his brown feathers with red plumage characteristic of an adult male HOFI. You'll note from the residue on his gape and mandibles that after a sunflower seed entree he apparently went for a dessert of Red Mulberries now fruiting locally.

Birds banded today at the Center:

19 House Finches

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

21 June

In my on-going attempt to catch up on installments of "This Week at Hilton Pond," I've just posted a photo essay for 29 Apr-4 May 2013. It includes info about the recent New River Birding & Nature Festival in West Virginia, which visits many Appalachian sites--including the incomparable Cranberry Glades Wilderness Area (above). there's also a link to the commencement address I gave last month when Newberry College awarded me an honorary doctorate. My topic was "Luck, Destiny, and Serendipity: Confessions of a Frisbee Fanatic."

Birds banded today at the Center:

1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
2 House Finches

22 June

Birds banded today at the Center:

1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
5 House Finches

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

30 June

I've been out of town all week but just completed another catch-up installment of "This Week at Hilton Pond" for 5-15 May 2013. It was an amazing period for banding diversity, returns of old birds, an encounter with a bright green amphibian, discovery of a front yard Red-shouldered Hawk nest at the Center (above) and a visit to Atlanta Audubon for International Migratory Bird Day.

All text, maps, charts & photos © Hilton Pond Center

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