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- Established 1982 -

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THIS WEEK at HILTON POND
1-10 December 2021

Installment #759---Visitor #web counter

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A PRETTY GOOD
BANDING YEAR, SO FAR

Since mid-October--after southbound migrants passed through and an unexpected big influx of Yellow-rumped Warblers tapered off--there's been precious little bird activity at Hilton Pond Center. Observations are 'way down and despite deploying a half-dozen mist nets dawn 'til dusk, most days we’ve handled only two or three individuals. Surprisingly, then, on 7 December 2021 we captured five Yellow-rumped Warblers, and one each Eastern Phoebe, Northern Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker, White-throated Sparrow, and American Robin. Oh, and did we mention one particular Tufted Titmouse (TUTI, below)?

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

What’s so special about catching a TUTI, you might ask, since in the eastern U.S. you're likely to see one (or hear its “peter, peter, peter”) in your yard or at your feeders nearly every day. Well, other than the fact that ALL birds are special, that particular titmouse was of significance because it was our 3,000th banding of 2021—just the fourth time we’ve reached that plateau in 40 years at the Center!

In 24 of our 40 years we haven’t even reached the 2,000-bird mark, so hitting 3,000 represents a lot more birds and a lot of work. To be clear, almost a third of this year’s captures were Pine Siskins (n = 988) that showed up during last winter’s unprecedented irruption, but we’ve still handled 81 different kinds of birds since 1 January—well above our 40-year average of 66 species.

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

This year we’ll not reach our all-time records of 4,061 individuals and 95 species set in 1991 (and probably won’t make the second-best mark of 3,499 from 1993), but the next plateau of 3,049 from 1994 is within reach with three weeks yet to go in the current calendar year. You can bet we’ll be running mist nets every fair-weather day from now until the ball drops on New Year’s Eve as we try to capture and band another 50 birds or so in the longest-running year-round bird banding study in the Carolinas.

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



WEEKLY BANDING HIGHLIGHTS

In the 1980s and early 1990s when our 11 acres were bordered by a 70-acre Loblolly Pine plantation, a few Brown-headed Nuthatches (BHNU) that nested over there came regularly to Hilton Pond Center's sunflower seed feeders. Like Carolina Chickadees, BHNU would grab a single seed and disappear, only to return a few minutes later and repeat the process. They may have eaten some of those tasty morsels, but both chickadees and nuthatches more likely were caching seeds--only to forget and have them discovered later by close relatives or some other seed-stealing species.

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

After the neighbor's mature loblollies were clear-cut for prime lumber in 1995 the parade of Brown-headed Nuthatches became a rarity at the Center, so this year we're pleased to have banded three--including one this week. Even so, BHNU have never been truly common locally; we've banded only 57 in 40 years! They have nested on-site--a couple of times in wooden boxes erected for Eastern Bluebirds--but several springs ago on a U.S. visit our sharp-eyed Costa Rican colleague Ernesto M. Carman found a nuthatch nest six feet up in a slender hardwood snag right on the banks of Hilton Pond. And then there was that mid-winter afternoon in the 1990s when we opened a bluebird box and a dozen BHNU exploded therefrom--disturbed from a communal roost where they'd been collectively keeping each other warm.

We haven't seen so many Brown-headed Nuthatches since. However, now that daughter trees from the original loblolly stand have volunteered and grown tall across Center property, we're hopeful Brown-headed Nuthatches will become re-established and once again entertain us with feeder antics and their distinctive "squeaky toy" calls.

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


Another infrequently captured species crossed the banding table this week at Hilton Pond Center: An immature Northern Mockingbird (NOMO)--just our 189th banded since 1982. This number seems surprisingly low for a species that is common across the Carolina Piedmont; we suspect our acreage--now mostly wooded--isn't optimal for NOMO, more abundant in open spaces with scattered shrubs and fence rows. This week's Northern Mockingbird (below) is a hatch-year bird with somewhat muddy iris; older NOMO in our area usually show an eye that is yellow, crystal-clear, and with a sharp border.

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

Northern Mockingbirds, which breed in the Caribbean, across Mexico, in every contiguous U.S. state, and (just barely) into Canada--are called "northern" because a closely related and similar-looking Tropical Mockingbird (TRMO) occurs (with essentially no overlap) in Central America and northern South America. We often encountered TRMO on our Operation RubyThroat hummingbird expeditions to Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, where they behave much like their northern counterparts--singing long and loud from conspicuous perches atop a tall tree or rooftop and occasionally dive-bombing some unsuspecting territorial intruder (human or otherwise).

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

In our image above of a Tropical Mockingbird from Guatemala you can see what we perceive as a somewhat longer tail with a lot more white overall in the rectrices. However, there is much less white in the TRMO's primary feather bases and its primary coverts. Therefore, Tropical Mockingbirds can't flash that big white wing patch (top photo and below)--used by NOMO in courtship and to startle insects into taking flight.

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


Come December, we often hear from homeowners surprised to see Eastern Bluebirds (EABL) still flying about their yards, drinking and bathing at water features, or even coming to suet feeders. Why, sometimes in winter folks even see EABL going in and out of nest boxes. "I thought bluebirds all went south in winter" is a common comment, but that's certainly not the case in the Carolina Piedmont. Here our EABL are year-round residents, although those that breed in north-central states and New England typically bail out in fall and come south, possibly crossing paths with our local breeders.

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

We've found that Eastern Bluebirds (above) we capture at Hilton Pond Center--including those banded as nestlings in boxes we provide--tend to hang together through their first fall and winter. In fact, we've often seen apparent family flocks of up to a dozen EABL bearing aluminum leg bands perched on power lines along the Center's road frontage. (They also may roost tohgether in a winter box like our Brown-headed Nuthatches mentioned above.) When spring arrives, such flocks disperse as last year's fledglings go off looking for mates of their own--or possibly to sit out their first year as potential breeders.

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

This week we banded two Eastern Bluebirds, both young females that hatched this summer. (As shown, females have much paler heads and backs than males.) There's no way right now to determine whether these two were produced locally. However, if we recapture them here in a future breeding season we might logically conclude they are non-migrants; OR--more spectacularly--if someone recaptures one during summer in, say, Pennsylvania it would imply that individual EABL had northern origins. Incidentally, this week's captures brought the Center's Eastern Bluebird total to 352--our 30th most common of 127 species banded since 1982.

(NOTE: December is a good time to start making bluebird boxes. And it's not too early to actually put them up since--as mentioned above--several kinds of cavity nesters may use them as roost boxes to fend off winter chill.)

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

Don't forget to scroll down for lists of all birds banded and recaptured during the week.



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 (above), 04 December 2021
In honor of the 73rd birthday of The Newberry Goddess,
Susan Ballard Hilton, born this date in 1948.

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

Sunset over Hilton Pond (above), 07 December 2021
The evening photo was taken from beside Hilton Pier,
looking back toward the cove. In a typical year, standing
at this spot would put water halfway up our thighs, but the
current drought means we're on a dry mudflat. That water-
loving tree to the right with dead but rich brown needles is
a Baldcypress, found more often in Carolina swamps and
Louisiana bayous. We'll have to see how well the tree
does if the water level stays low for very long.

Photoshop image post-processing for this page employs
DeNoise AI, Sharpen AI, and other Topaz Lab tools


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

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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, fellow scientists, and the general public. Please 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). You can also donate through our Facebook fundraising page.

The following donors made contributions to Hilton Pond Center during the period 1-10 December 2021:

  • Anonymous (recurring $17 monthly donation, via PayPal)
  • Becky Diak (repeat donor; via PayPal)
  • Mary Kimberly* & Gavin MacDonald* (on-going "Top Tier" supporters)
  • The friends below contributed via the "Donate" button on one of the Center's Facebook postings or fund-raisers; some may be repeat contributors. Several have set up through Facebook to make a recurring monthly donation to benefit the Center. Many are long-time donors.
    Catherine Hutto, Dallas DiLeo, Russell Rogers**, Marcia Power, Melanie Haney, Cindy Chapman

    * = past participant in Operation RubyThroat Neotropical Hummingbird expedition

    ** = recurring monthly Facebook donor

 
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BIRDS BANDED THIS WEEK at
HILTON POND CENTER
1-10 December 2021

SPECIES BANDED THIS PERIOD:
Yellow-rumped Warbler--
20
Brown-headed Nuthatch--1
American Goldfinch--3
Eastern Phoebe--1
Northern Cardinal-
-3
House Finch--
1
Eastern Bluebird--2

White-throated Sparrow--
2
Downy Woodpecker--1
Tufted Titmouse--1
Northern Mockingbird--2 American Robin--1
Blue Jay--1

* = new banded species for 2021


PERIOD BANDING TOTAL:
13 species
39 individuals


2021 BANDING TOTAL:
81 species (40-yr. avg. = 65.7)

3,003 individuals
(40-yr. avg. =
1,870.1)

265 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds


40-YEAR BANDING GRAND TOTAL:
(Banding began 28 June 1982; since then 173 species have been observed on or over the property.)
128 species banded
74,805 individuals banded

6,909 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds banded since 1984

NOTABLE RECAPTURES THIS WEEK:
(with original banding date, verified sex, and current age):
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)
11/29/20--after 2nd year male

Yellow-rumped Warbler (1)
11/30/19--3rd year unknown

Song Sparrow (2)
01/20/19--4th year unknown
03/22/21--2nd year unknown

White-throated Sparrow (3)
12/01/16--7th year unknown
11/30/19--3rd year unknown
12/31/20--2nd year unknown

Tufted Titmouse (2)
07/27/18--4th year male
11/08/20--2nd year male

Hermit Thrush (1)
11/05/19--3rd year unknown

** Notable local longevity for species
(none this week)

OTHER NATURE NOTES:
--We had two returns this week of species we seldom encounter again after banding: A Ruby-crowned Kinglet first captured a year ago in Nov 2020, and an even more impressive third-year Yellow-rumped Warbler from Nov 2019. How amazing these little northern breeders show such site fidelity they get mist netted again at Hilton Pond Center--hundreds (or thousands) of miles from their nesting sites.

--As of 10 Dec, the Center's 2021 Yard List stood at 111--about 64% of 173 avian species encountered locally since 1982, tying our record set last year. (Incidentally, 106 of those species so far this year have been observed from the windows or porches of our old farmhouse!) If you're not keeping a Yard List for your own property we encourage you to do so, and to report your sightings via eBird, where you, too, can be a "citizen scientist!") New species observed locally during the period 1-10 Dec: None this week.

--Our immediate past installment of "This Week at Hilton Pond" was about tallying the local chickadee population. It's archived and always available on our Web site as Installment #758.

All text & photos © Hilton Pond Center



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

(immature male Rufous Hummingbird at right)


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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.