AUSPCIOUS HAPPENINGS:
#76,000 . . . AND A HUMMERLING

We've been overrun lately at Hilton Pond Center by recently fledged House Finches --20 banded in the past week and 14 just on 4 June 2022. The 12th one from that batch was of particular significance, it being the 76,000th bird banded at the Center since 1982!

Male House Finches (HOFI) develop full red coloration by their first fall season, but younger males are brown and look like females. Interestingly, nestlings and just-fledged young of either sex often have antler-like plumes protruding from the tops of their heads--as was the case with #76,000 (see photo below). No one knows for sure, but we suspect these adornments indicate to adult HOFI these are youngsters whose insatiable appetites need tending.

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That our 76,000th banding was a House Finch seems appropriate; of 128 species banded at the Center the species is second-most common with 11,434 individuals (15.04% of all bandings). By comparison, American Goldfinches lead with 12,289 (16.17%), and Purple Finches are in third with 9,594 (12.62%). Pine Siskins sit far back in fifth place with 4,620 (6.08%)--considerably fewer than ourfourth-place 6,939 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Amazingly, those four "winter finches" comprise almost exactly half of all bandings at Hilton Pond with 37,946 (49.92% of the 76,031 birds banded as of 7 June 2022).

NOTE: House Finches probably no longer qualify as "winter finches." In the early 1980s HOFI were present at Hilton Pond Center only in winter, returning in spring to breeding sites in the northeast. By the 1990s, however, the species was nesting regularly in Upstate South Carolina and these days those northeastern House Finch populations appear to have given up on migration.

With #76,000 on the books it's on to 77,000 birds banded at Hilton Pond--a plateau we could reach by year's end if the migrant "winter finches" come down early.

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

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HERE COME THE HUMMERLINGS

Just before dusk on 6 June at Hilton Pond Center we were preparing to close down banding operations for the night when we watched two white-gorgetted Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (RTHU) enter a passive Dawkins-style trap baited with a sugar water feeder. (This cylindrical plastic mesh device is amazingly effective as hummers fly in through an open door but forget how to get back out.) We knew the two weren't adult males--which would have red gorgets--and surmised both were adult females.

When we reached in to secure the first bird we could tell from feather condition and configuration she was indeed an adult, but the second bird truly surprised us. Although she, too, was a female, her bright yellow gape (see photo below) told us she was a recently fledged youngster--what we call a "hummerling." (NOTE: The yellow gape--the soft, fleshy area at the juncture of upper and lower bill--likely serves as a "target zone" that helps guide the food-laden female hummer toward the gullet of her offspring. Among RTHU, males do not tend their young. The chick's gape, by the way, typically lightens with age and turns an off-white color.)

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

So why was this particular hummerling such a surprise? Well, in 39 years of banding ruby-throats at Hilton Pond, 6 June is the THIRD EARLIEST date for a young Ruby-throated Hummingbird--and not by much. Our earliest fledgling male was on 4 June 2005, and our earliest female fledgling on 5 June 2008.

In a typical year, we don't even start seeing good numbers of immature hummers-of-the-year until late June; in fact, since 1984 we've caught just 49 RTHU fledglings before 1 July--a little less than 1% of all 6,005 hatch-year ruby-throats banded. If more youngsters appear in the next week or so it may mean the species has gotten off to a particularly good start in 2022. (Perhaps weather conditions in late April this year were conducive to survival of eggs and hatchlings.)

Incidentally, with hummers already fledging in early June it's a good thing those Trumpet Creeper vines around the Center have started to bloom, providing a rich nectar source for free-flying youngsters. (See sunset photo below.)

But now we have a problem: No longer this spring can we look out the window of our old farmhouse and assume every white-throated hummingbird is female. Some will be, of course, but from now on many RTHU at Hilton Pond Center could be female-mimicking white-throated young males that have not yet started to acquire those tell-tale red gorget feathers sported by adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

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

WALNUT CREEK PRESERVE HUMMER PRESENTATION

At 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, 18 June 2022, Dr. Bill Hilton Jr., executive director of Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, will speak in-person about his Neotropical work with Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in a free public program at Walnut Creek Preserve near Lake Lure NC. Audience size is limited so pre-registration is required through Conserving Carolina.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are likely the most common hummer species in the world, but there is much to be learned about their life history—especially with regard to what they do the six months of the year when they’re not at our feeders and flowers in the Carolinas. Dr. Hilton is the only scientist studying these hummers on the other end of their migratory path in Central America. During his presentation, he will share some of the exciting results of his 30-plus citizen science hummingbird expeditions to the Neotropics, followed by time for questions and answers about these amazing little birds that break all the rules.

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

HILTON POND SUNSETS
(from our on-going series)

"Never trust a person too lazy to get up for sunrise
or too busy to watch the sunset." --BHjr

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

Sunset over Hilton Pond, 07 June 2022

Our Trumpet Creeper vines, Campsis radicans, have exploded with tubular orange blossoms this week, just in time to provide nectar to the first Ruby-throated Hummingbird fledglings of the year. This rambunctious vine in full sunlight on the fallen log down by the pond has dozens of blooms, and the flowering season is just beginning.

Don't forget to scroll down for lists of Hilton Pond supporters and of all birds banded and recaptured during the period.

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