- Established 1982 -

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Chart #2:
SPECIES with more than 400
INDIVIDUALS BANDED
at HILTON POND

(28 Jun 1982 thru 13 Dec 2020)

All text, charts, and data © Hilton Pond Center

From 28 June 1982 through 13 Dec 2020 at Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, 71,703 individuals and 127 species of birds have been banded. Of these, more than 400 individuals were banded for each of the top 24 species (above).

The 11,155 House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) and 9,013 Purple Finches (C. purpureus) made them among the most common species. American Goldfinches (Carduelis tristis) come in second at 8,985.

Pine Siskins (C. pinus) were regular in the middle- and late-1980's but dropped off drastically, with only 16 banded in 14 winters from 1994-95 through 2007-08. There was finally another incursion of 224 in the winter of 2008-09 and then an new high of 663 in the winter of 2010-11. This was eclipsed by 780 PISI in 2014-15. (Siskins occur in only some winters in the Southeast where they are highly irruptive, so it is difficult to determine what these fluctuating numbers might otherwise mean.)

Nonetheless, through 13 December 2020 these four "winter finches" together made up nearly half of all birds banded (35,368 or 49.33%); the highest level for these four species was on 26 Mar 2019 when they made up 49.94% of all birds that had been banded at the Center.

The most common non-finches have been 6,644 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) that are a primary focus for summer bird research at Hilton Pond Center.

Of the 127 species banded at the Center 63 have been encountered again as later-year returns, demonstrating site fidelity.

All text, charts, and data © Hilton Pond Center

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