BIRD BANDING RESULTS FOR

HILTON POND NORTH DURING CURRENT PERIOD

11-21 August 2025

The table below shows birds banded during the Current Period (Columns 1 & 2), each species' Yearly Tally (Column 3), and a Grand Total for each (Column 4) since banding commenced locally in March 2024. Any new species for the current year are in RED.

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

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

NEWLY BANDED BIRDS

AT HILTON POND NORTH

11-21 August 2025

Although we were quite pleased with that hummingbird becoming our 3,000th banding at Hilton Pond North, we had mixed feelings about Bird #3,002. Turns out this particular individual was a new species observed on-site—our 91st entry on the "Yard List" and the 9th banded—but it was an invasive species that can play havoc with native birds. This newcomer to our mist nets was a fledgling House Sparrow (HOSP, above), sometimes called English Sparrow. As the latter name suggests, this species is an import from Europe brought to North America in the 1850s as part of misguided efforts to control agricultural pests and add familiar birds to urban environments. House Sparrows rapidly spread across the continent within a few decades, thriving in human-modified landscapes and becoming ubiquitous in cities, towns, and agricultural areas, feeding on grain, seeds, and food scraps.

House Sparrows (adult male on box below) are highly aggressive, competing directly with native cavity-nesting birds like Eastern Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, House Wrens, and even woodpeckers for breeding sites. They're able to evict these species from nest boxes and natural cavities, showing violent behavior toward native species. HOSP will destroy eggs, kill nestlings, and even attack adult birds to claim prime nesting territories.

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

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

Fortunately for native species, House Sparrows in North America have declined significantly after peaking in the early 20th century; some studies show population drops of more than 60% since the 1960s. This is attributed to changes in urban environments, including cleaner cities with fewer food sources, modern buildings lacking nest sites, increased vehicle traffic, and—oddly enough—competition from other introduced foreign species such as European Starlings and Rock Pigeons. Curiously, House Sparrows are also declining in European homelands, so much so that Europe has 247 million fewer individuals than in 1980—the largest population drop by any European bird. There, HOSP are now red-listed as a species of high conservation concern!

That fledgling House Sparrow was indeed an August surprise, but an even greater wonder was detected by one of Hilton Pond Center's trail cams one evening. (Click arrow to start, if needed.) The device grabbed 15 seconds of ghostlike infrared footage showing a slinky, four-legged creature moving frenetically. Although we'd never seen one first-hand, we knew immediately the video snippet depicted a Long-tailed Weasel, Neogale (formerly Mustela) frenata. There aren't many animals that look more serpentine than mammalian, but that's the case with members of the Mustelidae (Weasel Family), including two others found here in the Blue Ridge Mountains: North American River Otter (quite large and weighing up to 30 times more than a Long-tailed Weasel), and Least Weasel (a diminutive species the size of a big mouse).

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

With a 16" body length and 6" tail, Long-tailed Weasels pack ferocity into their sinuous bodies. These slender carnivores (skull above, with sharp teeth and powerful jaws) thrive in diverse habitats from dense hardwood forests to open meadows and rocky outcrops at higher elevations, using flexibility and agility to pursue prey through tight spaces and undergrowth. In Ashe County's rugged terrain this species hunts small mammals like voles, mice, and shrews—even Eastern Chipmunks (below) AND much-larger Cottontail Rabbits! During winter months at higher elevations some individuals grow a calico coat, although a complete color change to ermine white seen in more northerly Short-tailed Weasels seldom occurs.

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

Although we've seen House Sparrows in nearby North Carolina towns, we were surprised this week to capture one here in Ashe County's rural woodlands, a young bird with immature plumage and a large, soft, yellow gape as shown above. We hope this was a random, rare occurrence and there's not an established local population competing with native bird species.

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

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

Long-tailed Weasels have an interesting reproductive strategy. Mating typically occurs in mid- to late summer (July-August), but a fertilized embryo doesn't develop immediately; it remains dormant for 8-10 months through "delayed implantation," with active pregnancy not beginning until the following spring. Such timing ensures young are born late April through May when prey is most abundant and weather conditions are favorable for survival. The female is highly protective of her 4-9 young and will move them to alternate den sites if disturbed, carrying each kit individually to safety.

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

Although Long-tailed Weasels primarily consume small mammals, they are opportunistic predators with high metabolic rates and a need to consume 20-30% of their body weight daily. They can't afford to be overly selective, so we're fairly certain one wouldn't turn up its weaselly little nose at a fat, juicy invertebrate encountered while roaming our woods. Maybe a caterpillar like the one above—the larval stage of a Pink-striped Oakworm Moth—would serve as a succulent evening snack.

This caterpillar is of particular interest because we wrote about its adult stage in a previous installment of This Week at Hilton Pond North. We wondered back then why the species carried the epithet "pink-striped," but after looking at our photo above it's pretty obvious the caterpillar has a dark pinkish line down its side. Also apparent is a series of "scoli" (short spines) that likely wouldn't stop a hungry weasel, but for some potential predators those two ominous-looking "antennae" protruding from the anterior end might be a deterrent. These are "filaments" that apparently serve only that function and are NOT sensory appendages.

All photos, videos, maps, charts, drawings, 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

Doug Dietz, a Newberry College roommate from 60 years ago, was here at Hilton Pond North from California for most of the week, helping with multiple tasks that required a second set of expert hands: Trimming out the banding office and woodshed, running permanent wiring to the shop building and outdoor outlets, installing an outside shower for clean-up after grimy work days, and building four rustic benches in the style of esteemed conservationist Also Leopold, author of Sand County Almanac. With considerable effort we transported those benches to various spots along our trails—including the dam at the pond (above). Each bench will provide a spot from which to observe wildlife and where folks can relax and reminisce about such things as college hijinks from six decades past.

With trees hiding our view to the west on the evening of 18 August, we looked east down Silas Creek Road to view fiery effects of the sunset at Hilton Pond North. The panorama was spoiled somewhat by knowing that tall White Pine at right and the slope on which it grows were being choked by vines from infamous Kudzu. We wish this invasive plant from Asia weren't growing so close to our property in upper Ashe County NC.