3rd International Hummingbir Festival, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

- Established 1982 - HOME: www.hiltonpond.org			GENERAL INFO
			CONTENTS
			RESEARCH
			EDUCATION
			PUBLICATIONS
			MISCELLANY

THIS WEEK at HILTON POND
25 September-2 October 2015

Installment #628---Visitor #

Subscribe for free to our award-winning nature newsletter

(Back to Preceding Week; on to Next Week)

3rd INTERNATIONAL
HUMMINGBIRD FESTIVAL
(San Miguel de Allende, Mexico)

NOTE: This write-up is incomplete; we regret the delay, but please check back later.

Awhile back I learned that in 2013 a historic town in central Mexico organized what they called the Festival Internacional del Colibrí (International Hummingbird Festival). The organizers invited hummer enthusiasts from Central America and elsewhere to travel to San Miguel de Allende for a celebration of these tiny feathered creatures. I was delighted when festival organizers contacted me about giving the kick-off keynote presentation for the third annual festival, to be held the first weekend in October 2015. I gladly accepted the invitation, of course, in part because all previous visits to Mexico were to less-than-idyllic border towns across from Arizona and South Texas. Besides, it was an honor to be invited. Rather than write a minute-by-minute description of the Mexico trip, I've decided to offer a few snippets of information and a portfolio of images that summarize my week in San Miguel as part of the 3rd annual International Hummingbird Festival.

--BILL HILTON JR.

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

I arrived late evening on 25 September 2015 at Guanajuato International Airport near Leon, about 225 miles northwest of Mexico City. There I was met by festival founders Alfredo Garcia-Lucio and Jim McKeever (above), who entertained and informed me during the 90-minute drive to San Miguel and acted as consummate hosts during my entire stay. I'm thankful for our newfound freidnship and for their professional contributions on behalf of hummingbirds and the environment in Mexico and beyond.

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

Alfredo and Jim are also owners of Parasol--a Mexican company that makes glass hummingbird feeders and accessories.

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

Checks can be sent to Hilton Pond Center at:
1432 DeVinney Road
York SC 29745

All contributions are tax-deductible on your
current-year income tax form
See list of recent supporters below

"This Week at Hilton Pond" is written and photographed by Bill Hilton Jr., executive director of Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
Please refer "This Week at Hilton Pond" to others by clicking on this button: Tweet Follow us on Twitter: @hiltonpond	Comments or questions about this week's installment? Send an E-mail to INFO. (Be sure to scroll down for a tally of birds banded/recaptured during the period, plus other nature notes.)

Click on image at right for live Web cam of Hilton Pond,
plus daily weather summary

Transmission of weather data from Hilton Pond Center via WeatherSnoop for Mac.

--SEARCH OUR SITE--
You may wish to consult our Index of all nature topics covered since
February 2000, or use our on-line Hilton Pond Search Engine:

For your very own on-line subscription to "This Week at Hilton Pond,"
just click on the image above. It's guaranteed fat-free!

Thanks to the following fine folks for recent gifts in support of Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History and/or Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project. Your tax-deductible contributions allow us, among other things, to continue writing, photographing, and sharing "This Week at Hilton Pond" with students, teachers, and the general public. Please see Support or scroll below if you'd like to make a gift of your own.

We're pleased folks are thinking about the work of the Center and making donations. Those listed below made contributions received during the period. Please join them if you can in coming weeks.

Gifts can be made via PayPal (funding@hiltonpond.org); credit card via Network for Good (see link below); or personal check (c/o Hilton Pond Center, 1432 DeVinney Road, York SC 29745).

None this week


If you enjoy "This Week at Hilton Pond," please help support Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History. It's painless, and YOU can make a difference! (Just CLICK on a logo below or send a check if you like; see Support for address.)
Make credit card donations on-line via Network for Good:
Use your PayPal account to make direct donations:
If you like shopping on-line please become a member of iGive, through which 1,500+ on-line stores from Amazon to Lands' End and even iTunes donate a percentage of your purchase price to support Hilton Pond Center. Every new member who registers with iGive and makes a purchase through them earns an ADDITIONAL $5 for the Center. You can even do Web searches through iGive and earn a penny per search--sometimes TWO--for the cause! Please enroll by going to the iGive Web site. It's a painless, important way for YOU to support our on-going work in conservation, education, and research. Add the iGive Toolbar to your browser and register Operation RubyThroat as your preferred charity to make it even easier to help Hilton Pond Center when you shop.

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.


BIRDS BANDED THIS WEEK at HILTON POND CENTER 25 September-2 October 2015
SPECIES BANDED THIS PERIOD: NONE THIS WEEK * = new banded species for 2015 PERIOD BANDING TOTAL: 0 species 0 individuals 2015 BANDING TOTAL: 50 species (34-yr. avg. = 65.8) 2,215 individuals (34-yr. avg. = 1,856.0 ) 242 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (32-yr. avg = 166) 34-YEAR BANDING GRAND TOTAL: (Banding began 28 June 1982; since then 171 species have been observed on or over the property.) 126 species 63,101 individuals 5,296 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds NOTABLE RECAPTURES THIS WEEK: (with original banding date, sex, and current age): NONE THIS WEEK CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO VISIT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE	OTHER NATURE NOTES: --The immediate past installment of "This Week at Hilton Pond" was a collection of random nature observations during the middle of Sep 2015. It is archived and always available on the Center's Web site as Installment #627. All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center

Please report your
sightings of
Color-marked
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

Oct 15 to Mar 15:
East of the Rockies please report your sightings of
Vagrant & Winter Hummingbirds

(immature male Rufous Hummingbird at right)

(Back to Preceding Week; on to Next Week)

Back to "This Week at Hilton Pond" Main

Current Weather Conditions at Hilton Pond Center

The Center's backyard Web cam at Weather Underground

Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History is a non-profit research, conservation & education organization in York, South Carolina USA; phone (803) 684-5852. Directed by Dr. Bill Hilton Jr., aka "The Piedmont Naturalist," it is parent organization for Operation RubyThroat. Web site contents--including text and photos--may NOT be duplicated, modified, or used in any way except with express written permission of Hilton Pond Center. All rights reserved worldwide. To request permission for use or for further assistance, please contact Webmaster.