All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

BIRDS BANDED AT HILTON POND NORTH

DURING THE CURRENT PERIOD

18-30 April 2025

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

The table below shows birds banded during the most recent period, plus each species' tally for the year and the total for each since banding commenced locally in March 2024. New species for the year are in RED.

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

Things got even more interesting on the 19th when we deployed mist nets in the bird feeding/garden area outside our cabin and had our first ruby-throat capture of 2025, an adult male, possibly the same bird seen the day before. (He was netted as evening light was waning, so our flash photo above did not do justice to his gorget.) In-hand we looked closely at its legs; lo and behold, on his right was a tiny aluminum band (U43875)! Checking our records we learned we banded him at Hilton Pond North on 24 August 2024 as a recent fledgling, making him now a second-year bird and—more importantly—our first return of a banded RTHU here at our new North Carolina research site. As such, he was the first documented (non-anecdotal) Ashe County record of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird returning to its banding site and demonstrating local site fidelity for the species.

The fourth day (21 April) brought our first 2024 encounter with a new, unbanded hummingbird—an adult male (above) that looked a bit disheveled after his long spring trip from the Neotropics. We're unaware of any way to determine exact age of a male ruby-throat after he's gotten his full red gorget, so we recorded him as after-hatch-year; if he returns in 2026 he'll be after-2nd-year, then after-3rd-year in 2027, and so on. The longevity record for a Ruby-throated Hummingbird (a female) is 9 years 2 months for one banded and recaptured in West Virginia. None of the six oldest known RTHU have been males.

All in all it was a great weekend for hummingbirds but maybe even more exciting was our capture of an American Crow—the first we'd ever handled in 47 years of North American banding in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and elsewhere. At our previous long-term study site in York SC we observed American Crows nearly every day, but they never came close to our feeders, mist nets, and banding shack. Here at Hilton Pond North, however, crows are equally common but seem much less wary; foraging on spilled seed beneath feeders close to our cabin we've seen as many as eight at a time. (Five appear in the photo above.)

From our office on 19 April we were watching a couple of crows digging through soil underneath a tall seed feeder when something spooked the duo. One flew high over a nearby mist net while the other stayed low and hit it midway, tumbling into loose mesh. It was flapping and trying to escape so we bolted out the door and managed to get a grip on the crow's legs without getting maimed by its strong toes and talons. It continued to struggle but we were determined to hold tight. The bird quickly calmed down; even so, we were careful about its head, lest it aim for parts of our exposed anatomy with its heavy black bill—which just happened to have a sharp little raptorial hook on the end! (See photo below; note the muddy bill.)

It is pretty apparent even from field observations that American Crows are pretty big. Their wingspan is about three feet--just six inches less than a Red-shouldered Hawk. Stem to stern they are about 18" (half of which is tail) and weigh about a pound, with males averaging 10-15% or so more than females in all regards. After handling a Ruby-throated Hummingbird earlier in the day, this crow felt gargantuan. It was apparent help would be needed in processing the bird, so we elbow-tapped the cabin window and asked The Goddess (aka Susan B. Hilton) to grab a hand towel and meet in the banding office. There we covered the bird's head to calm it enough to take measurements.

American Crows are sexually dimorphic externally; seldom can you reliably tell male from female by just looking. Since the measurements we took turned out to be on the high end for the species, Corvus brachyrhynchos, we were highly confident our in-hand crow was a male. It's possible the bird foraging with it was its mate, but it seems more likely they were younger birds and perhaps unpaired siblings.

Although physically capable of breeding by age two, most crows do not successfully pair until they are older, likely due to strong competition for territories and mates. In New York State, Kevin McGowan found females usually breed at 3-5 years, while the male is later at 4-6 years—perhaps waiting to take over his parents' territory. Unpaired young crows must stand by for a mating opportunity, sometimes acting as independent "floaters" or joining unrelated families as helpers.

Once we applied the Size 5 aluminum band to the crow's leg we had to remove the towel so we could measure wing chord and tail. The crow took advantage of this new opening and clamped down on our left thumb (above), causing pain and drawing a little blood we really didn’t want to give up. We hurriedly made and recorded our measurements, pried the crow's bill from our now-punctured digit, and asked Susan to take the three photos above with her relatively ancient low-res iPhone.

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

Although the crow's biting end was covered, we still had to keep its legs free so we could apply a band. Like most members of the Corvidae (the family that includes jays, magpies, and ravens), crows have amazingly powerful feet. The bird-in-hand had no qualms about digging its talons into fingers as we worked, and it was quite a chore to wrench its toes and claws free before bander blood flowed.

American Crows have one of the most complex social systems of any North American bird. A breeding pair is usually monogamous and bonded long-term, with up to five offspring from previous years acting as "helpers." In years one and two, most young crows are still with their natal families, helping to build or renovate their parents' nest, defending territory (including mobbing hawks and owls), and feeding and caring for younger siblings.

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

All photos, videos, maps, charts, and text © Hilton Pond North

This male Hooded Warbler was the first migratory spring warbler banded at Hilton Pond North in 2025, freshly arrived from some non-breeding locale in Central America or the West Indies. Females typically have a yellow throat and a much paler hood, although older individuals may resemble males.

In eastern North American, American Crow identification is complicated by the similar Fish Crow, Corvus ossifragus, although this species is mostly limited to coastal regions. (In North Carolina, Fish Crows seldom get inland beyond the Piedmont, with fewer than five reports from here in Ashe County. ) The two species are best differentiated by call, the Common Crow saying "caw! caw" while Fish Crows are more nasal with a short “uh-uh” or “nyuh-uh” (like a croaky "no-no"). Once you've heard a Fish Crow, you'll always know what it is. (We like to joke Fish Crows say "caw-caw ya'll.")

Wild American Crows have a typical life span of 7-8 years, although more commonly they reach 3-6 years. (The known longevity record for a wild banded crow is 29 years.) Many die young from illness and predation; because they are considered pests by some humans, as many as 200,000 perish annually from shooting and poisons—despite being protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The species is especially susceptible to West Nile Virus (WNV). After its introduction to the U.S. in 1999, that disease had devastating impact, killing up to 45–90% of all American Crows in various local populations. After those initial steep declines, populations gradually rebounded in many areas. As of the 2020s, numbers have largely stabilized, though localized dips still occur during mosquito-borne WNV outbreaks.

Yes, that was quite a final week for April 2025, what with the capture of our first Ruby-throated Hummingbirds of the year and our first-ever American Crow banded. Who knows what May might bring!