After almost five weeks in Costa Rica we've just returned from our
annual Operation RubyThroat hummingbird banding expeditions and have
lots to report. An account of the great field work done by our Week
One group participants--the Alpha Niners--is the subject of the
latest installment of "This Week at Hilton Pond."
We also banded a few birds at Hilton Pond just before we flew south,
so there's a list of them at the end of the Costa Rica report.
Please note we've already set dates for next year's trips and will be
taking enrollments very soon. We're excited our 2010 hummingbird
banding expeditions will include two to Costa Rica and--for the first
time--one each to Guatemala and Belize!
As you might guess, this year we learned some interesting new things
about Ruby-throated Hummingbirds on their wintering grounds. To view
the essay for 22 Jan-1 Feb 2009--complete with lots of photos of
tropical flora and fauna--please visit
http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek090122.html . Summaries for
subsequent weeks will follow as soon as we can write them up.
Happy (Neotropical) Nature Watching!
BILL
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RESEARCH PROGRAM
c/o BILL HILTON JR. Executive Director
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA
resea...@hiltonpond.org, (803) 684-5852, eFax: (503) 218-0845
Please visit our web sites (courtesy of Comporium.net):
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History at http://www.hiltonpond.org
"Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project" at http://www.rubythroat.org
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