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THIS WEEK at HILTON POND
1-17 March 2018

Installment #670---Visitor #

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Our 30th
Operation RubyThroat
Citizen Science Hummingbird Expedition
to the Neotropics

Costa Rica-East (Paraíso/Ujarrás)
++ 31 Oct thru 8 Nov 2018 ++

Contact Holbrook Travel to register today!

Come be an integral part of a real citizen-science project!

Lesson's Motmot, above right (formerly Blue-crowned Motmot)

"This Week at Hilton Pond" is written and photographed by Bill Hilton Jr., executive director of Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History

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The Piedmont Naturalist--Vol. 1--1986 (Hilton Pond Press) is an award-winning collection of newspaper columns that first appeared in The Herald in Rock Hill SC. Optimized for tablets such as iPad and Kindle, electronic downloads of the now out-of-print volume are available by clicking on the links below. The digital version includes pen-and-ink drawings from the original edition--plus lots of new color photos. All sales go
to support the work of Hilton Pond Center.

SPECIES BANDED THIS PERIOD:
American Goldfinch--2
Chipping Sparrow--2
Dark-eyed Junco--1 *
Northern Cardinal--4
Song Sparrow--1
House Finch--7
White-throated Sparrow--1

* = new banded species for 2018

---

PERIOD BANDING TOTAL:
7 species
18 individuals

---

2018 BANDING TOTAL:
12 species (37-yr. avg. = 63.5)
233 individuals (37-yr. avg. =
1,814.0)
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds = 0

---

37-YEAR BANDING GRAND TOTAL:
(Banding began 28 June 1982; since then 171 species have been observed on or over the property.)
126 species banded
67,118 individuals banded
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds = 5,971

---

NOTABLE RECAPTURES THIS WEEK:
(with original banding date, sex, and current age):
Chipping Sparrow (2)
02/15/14--after 5th year male
01/01/16--after 4th year unknown

Carolina Chickadee (1)
09/20/17--after hatch year male

Northern Cardinal (5)
09/04/17--2nd year male
09/29/17--after 2nd year male
10/15/17--2nd year male
11/01/17--2nd year female
12/31/17--after hatch year female

House Finch (11)
06/12/16--3rd year male
07/08/16--3rd year male
11/30/16--after 2nd year male
02/14/17--2nd year male
05/08/17--after 2nd year female
07/27/17--after 2nd year female
08/04/17--2nd year male
09/17/17--2nd year female
10/15/17--2nd year female
11/13/17--2nd year male
12/14/17--after hatch year male

Tufted Titmouse (1)
06/11/17--after 2nd year female

OTHER NATURE NOTES:
--We were gone from Hilton Pond Center most of the first half of February, conducting hummingbird research in Costa Rica (see write-up above).

--As of 17 Mar Hilton Pond Center's 2018 Yard List stood at 42--about 25% of the 171 avian species encountered locally since 1982. (If you're not keeping a yard list for your own property we encourage you to do so, and to report sightings via eBird.) New sightings during the period: Cooper's Hawk.

--Our immediate past installment of "This Week at Hilton Pond" was a compendium of Mar 2018 nature happenings at the Center. It is under production at present and when posted will be archived and always available on the Center's Web site as Installment #669.

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center