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In late 1981, Bill Hilton Jr. was about to finish up an extended study of behavioral ecology of Blue Jays, Cyanocitta cristata, as part of his graduate work at the University of Minnesota. On his primary site at the University’s Cedar Creek Natural History Area, Hilton banded and color-marked more than 1,500 Blue Jays and found that species’ densest known nesting concentration--an annual average of more than 100 nests in a 60-hectare area. Despite this phenomenal success, after what he calls “four very long, very dark, very cold winters studying jays in the Minnesota boondocks,” Hilton, his wife Susan, and five-year-old son Billy III were looking forward to returning home to significantly balmier South Carolina, where Hilton planned once again to teach high school biology.

The Hiltons met a Twin Cities realtor who in turn contacted a colleague in York County SC, where the family had lived and worked prior to moving to Minnesota. The Hiltons challenged the Carolina real estate agent with an interesting set of requirements for their prospective new home: Several hectares of land where Hilton could continue his field ornithology work; some sort of water feature (live stream or pond); a variety of vegetation, including a few mature trees; a livable house in good condition; and, of course, everything had to be at a price affordable to a family that had been living on a tight graduate student budget for four years. The Carolina realtor said she was up for the challenge and was undaunted to learn the Hiltons also wanted the property to have a Southern Magnolia tree, Magnolia grandiflora--a symbol they had left the frigid northland behind and moved to a more hospitable climate.

To make a long story short, the realtor did what Hilton called a "miraculous job" in narrowing down property listings in York County and suggested the Hiltons look at a few homes that might meet their demands. In December 1981, the agent described several inferior listings before mentioning a place in York SC: A circa-1918 farm house in excellent shape on 2.5 hectares with a few old oaks, pines, hickories, growing around a 1-hectare pond at an unbelievably low asking price of $47,000. The description seemed too good to be true, but when the Hiltons took their initial tour they knew it was the perfect place--especially since a magnificent magnolia tree stood tall in the front yard! Earnest money was put down, the deal was closed in mid-March 1982, and that summer the Hiltons moved into their new homestead, which they named "Hilton Pond." The family was able to purchase adjoining lots shortly thereafter, so today--more than 25 years later--their holdings have expanded to 5.5 hectares.

The farmhouse the Hiltons purchased was just that—the residence of farming families that had grazed cattle or planted rows crops such as corn, cotton, and soybeans for perhaps a century or more. As a result the land wasn’t very diverse; in fact, except for a few big trees around the farmhouse, the property was almost completely open and about a year or two into vegetational succession. There was plenty of knee-high Broomsedge, (Andropogon virginicus), with a few Blackberry thickets (Rubus spp.), expanses of invasive Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), and a scattering of tiny, six-inch-high seedlings of Winged Elm (Ulmus alata), Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), and Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)—a triumvirate of early successional tree species that does especially well in the red clay of western York County SC.

Hilton determined early on there was no way he was going to cut 5.5 hectares of grass to keep the property open, so he laid out nearly 4 km of walking trails that meandered around the property from one blackberry patch to another, bypassing the tree seedlings in the hope they would grow much larger. And grow they did, so much so that 25 years later nearly the entire expanse of Hilton’s land is covered by a mixed forest of hardwoods and pines—all of which seeded in naturally thanks to blowing winds and a variety of birds and small mammals. Instead of trails that once snaked through sun-baked Broomsedge, Hilton’s paths now provide shady access to all parts of the property and allow him to intensively observe and investigate changes that occur among the diverse flora and fauna.

There aren’t enough Blue Jays to do a study similar to what he conducted in Minnesota, but by using mist nets and various kinds of traps, Hilton has managed to capture and band more than 51,000 birds of 124 species in the past 27 years! In all, Hilton Pond local checklists include 168 bird species (25 of which are known to have nested on the property), 27 mammals, 19 reptiles, 11 amphibians, four fish, dozens of insects and other invertebrates, 50 trees, 27 shrubs, 18 vines, more than 50 forbs, five ferns, and many unidentified fungi, lichens, mosses, and grasses--plus uncounted aquatic organisms that inhabit the pond. Because of his long-term site-based banding work in the poorly studied South Carolina Piedmont, Hilton’s property was named an Important Bird Area by National Audubon and BirdLife International.

For several years Hilton’s bird banding and plant and animal inventory work involved his advanced high school science students--he was named South Carolina science teacher of the year on three occasions--but he eventually took leave of the classroom to establish in 1999 what he now calls Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to education, research, and conservation. For the past decade the Center has thrived on private donations, corporate contributions, and a series of small grants--plus a 42-month award from the National Science Foundation in support Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project. Operation RubyThroat is a cross-disciplinary international initiate that uses the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, as a hook to excite students of all ages about science learning.

The NSF grant--unusual for a small non-profit--was provided specifically to allow Hilton to incorporate Operation RubyThroat as an observational protocol within The GLOBE Program, through which students and citizen scientists around the world collect data about atmosphere, climate, soils, hydrology, land cover, and phenology. While Hilton captures Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at Hilton Pond Center (3,614 banded 1984 through 2007), students and adults in ten countries from Canada to Panama also collect data about when hummingbirds arrive and depart in spring and fall migration, how dense hummingbird populations are in various parts of their nesting and wintering ranges, whether the birds prefer to feed at feeders or on various flower species, and how successful hummingbirds are at breeding from year to year.

Hilton chronicles the ongoing activities of his Center on its Web site, particularly through “This Week at Hilton Pond,” an original series of photo essays about everything from birds and bees to flowers and trees and natural phenomena he observes in the Carolina Piedmont. While “teaching folks about everyday occurrences at the Center,” Hilton said he hopes his work “will stimulate students 'K thru gray' to go out and look for similar organisms and occurrences in their own backyards.”

If you’re interested in supporting the work of Hilton Pond Center, you can make a tax-deductible contribution through PayPal, by credit card via Network for Good, or by shopping on-line at stores that give a small percentage of every sale to the Center. Details are at FUNDING.