BIRD BANDING RESULTS FOR

HILTON POND NORTH DURING CURRENT PERIOD

22-31 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.

Except for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, banding was very slow as we awaited the arrival of fall migrants.

NEWLY BANDED BIRDS

AT HILTON POND NORTH

22-31 August 2025

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

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

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

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

By "composite" we mean goldenrod's inflorescence actually contains TWO kinds of flowers (above): Ray flowers around the perimeter that are incorrectly called "petals," and fertile disc flowers at center. The former serve to attract pollinators, while the latter contain reproductive parts (pistil and stamens) and produce seeds. This is true of all sunflowers, including big-headed ones that provide striped or black bird feeder seed. Composite flowers often need cross-fertilization to make these seeds, so pollinator "friends"—mostly insects, but some others—are usually required to distribute pollen from one flower to the next.

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

Importantly, goldenrod pollen is sticky, helping it adhere to pollinators when they visit flowers. This is very different from Common Ragweed, Ambrosia artemisifolia (above); it's also a composite but has dry pollen that gets from one plant to another via wind. Thus, one should conclude it's not sticky pollen from showy goldenrod flowers that cause fall hay fever, but dusty wind-borne pollen from inconspicuous green ragweeds that enters one's eyes and nostrils and causes so much misery. Goldenrod gets a bad rap for which ragweed, although also native, is the real culprit.

Depending on taxonomic interpretation, botanists catalog 75-100 goldenrod species (Solidago spp.) in North America. All are self-incompatible and unable to self-fertilize, i.e., they need pollinator "friends." Goldenrods are considered as "keystone species," and have been called the single most important plant genus for North American pollinator biodiversity. It's a mutualistic relationship in which the goldenrods absolutely need the insects; likewise, many insects rely heavily on abundant late-season nectar and pollen resources that goldenrods provide. In homage to Solidago and its pollinators, below we offer a portfolio of just a few of the insect "friends" we've seen visiting Hilton Pond North's goldenrods in late August.

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

By far the most abundant pollinator on our Canada Goldenrod was the Goldenrod Soldier Beetle, Chauliognathus pensylvanicus (above). It's a member of the Leatherwing Beetle Family (Cantharidae), so-called because its elytra (wing covers) are flexible. Day-to-day, literally hundreds of these inch-long insects were in our goldenrod patch, some flying about, some gobbling pollen and nectar, and quite a few in mating posture, as shown, with the male's claspers firmly attached to the tip of the female's abdomen. Some beetles seemed almost territorial, chasing away other kinds of insects that landed on nearby flower fronds.

A third beetle spied in our backyard goldenrod stand was likely NOT there for pollen or nectar but was a predator lying in ambush, waiting for garden-harming aphids, thrips, caterpillars, or small flies to happen along. This was a brightly colored Asian Lady Beetle, Harmonia axyridis, whose powerful jaws are adapted for crushing invertebrate prey. A non-native species, it was introduced as a biological control in the early 1900s and is one of the most variable ladybugs, having zero to 10 black spots and elytra that vary from yellow to deep orange, as shown; note the diagnostic white "M" on the pronotum. Alas, the species also feeds on native ladybugs, butterfly eggs, and beneficial insects, making it an invasive mixed blessing.

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

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

Although some beetles that visit goldenrod are significant pollinators, the European Green Bottle Fly, Lucilia sericata (above), picks up fewer pollen grains as it visits flowers for a quick hit of nectar. Nonetheless, it and many other flies do pollinate and should be recognized for their role. This metallic green or bronze species is a non-native attracted to carrion, wounds, feces, and garbage. Its sterile larvae are still used in modern medicine to treat chronic, non-healing wounds (e.g., ulcers and pressure sores). The maggots remove necrotic tissue, secrete antimicrobial compounds, and stimulate healing.

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

Butterflies, too, are pollinators of goldenrod, their feet and abdomens transferring pollen to successive flowers they visit in pursuit of nectar. Above, the photo shows a Silvery Checkerspot, Chlosyne nycteis, as it uncoils its long, thin proboscis and inserts it into the floret of a single composite flower. (The checkerspot is being photobombed at back rear by yet another copulating pair of soldier beetles.) Goldenrod serves double duty for Silvery Checkerspots; it's a host plant for the species' leaf-munching caterpillars AND a nectar source for adults. Incidentally, goldenrod stands with their expansive inflorescence provide much-needed energy for Monarch butterflies as they make their way south in long distance migration—yet another reason to appreciate Solidago.

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

Aside from those nearly ubiquitous Goldenrod Soldier Beetles, the most plentiful visitors in our backyard goldenrods were wasps. They were also quite diverse in size and kind—some of which were not identifiable to species without magnification of an individual in hand. Perhaps most striking was the black-and-white specimen above, which goes by a tongue-twisting Pseudodynerus quadrisectus but apparently has no common name. It's in the Potter Wasp Subfamily (Eumeninae). Adults of both sexes are often found taking nectar from flowers, while females construct individual mud nests with separate chambers for their larvae, each provisioned with a live caterpillar paralyzed by the female's sting. Notice scattered pollen grains on the wasp's abdomen in the photo; unlike Honeybees, wasps do not have special "corbiculae" (pollen baskets) on their hind legs to carry large amounts of pollen back to the hive. (Pollen is up to 30% protein for hungry larvae.)

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

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

The wasp in the image just above may look more familiar to many readers. It's one of the Umbrella Paper Wasps (Subfamily Polistinae) that build multi-chambered gray hanging nests under house eaves, porch lights, and in hollow trees. Because of its yellow face (not visible) we suspect the specimen above is a Metric Paper Wasp, Polistes metricus, although several closely related and similar-looking species occur in the Blue Ridge. Polistes wasps are beneficial predators that primarily hunt caterpillars they chew into protein-rich balls to feed developing larvae back at the nest; adults fuel themselves with flower nectar, sometimes feeding on aphid honeydew.

Mention Eastern Yellowjacket, Vespula maculifrons, to many folks and they get the shivers, perhaps after being attacked a by a swarm of these ferocious little wasps while running over a nest with a lawnmower. Such revulsion is understandable, but all members of the Yellowjacket Family (Vespidae) are predators that perform valuable service by consuming caterpillars and other insects that are agricultural pests. This includes the nectar-sipping Widow Yellowjacket, V. vidua (above), which is half again larger than its aforementioned relative.

An established yellowjacket colony is a complex, multi-tiered, underground "waspopolis" that houses thousands of larvae and adults. It's typically located within an abandoned rodent burrow or other enclosed space just a few inches below the surface. The nest includes multiple horizontal tiers of combs with downward-facing paper cells containing larvae. Workers expand the network by removing soil and dropping it outside the nest entrance while continuously adding new paper layers made of chewed plant matter. Other workers feed larvae with paste made from various invertebrates and carrion, while adults fuel their hunting activities with carbohydrates from flower nectar. Incidentally, the Widow Yellowjacket on our goldenrod would have a much smaller colony—no more than 400 workers and larvae—but would be just as aggressive as its smaller cousins when disturbed.

Yes, goldenrod has lots of "friends," from beetles to butterflies, wasps to flies and bees. We barely touched on all the pollinators we saw on our Canada Goldenrod and didn't have room to mention ants, leafhoppers, lacewings, true bugs, or even moths that pull the graveyard shift as they transfer pollen from one goldenrod to the next.

All these "friends" are ecologically significant, but native goldenrods themselves are valuable beyond pollinator support: 1) Goldenrod's deep, fibrous root system retards erosion, especially in disturbed areas where it thrives; 2) Dense goldenrod thickets provide wildlife habitat and shelter, including hollow stems that offer natural nesting habitat for all-important native bees; 3) Birds such as American Goldfinches, grosbeaks, and nuthatches eat goldenrod seeds, some of which remain on the plants until winter; 4) Monarch butterflies frequent goldenrod and acquire critical, energy-rich sustenance during their long migration south; and, 5) As pioneer species, goldenrods help restore degraded landscapes and provide foundation habitat for other species to become established. In other words, do not look upon this incredible plant with disdain. Like those of us at Hilton Pond North, you, too, can be a goldenrod "friend." Remember, goldenrod isn't a weed, and it certainly doesn't cause hay fever!

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

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

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

The caterpillar of the Saddled Prominent Moth, Heterocampa guttivitta (above), is easily recognized by a prominent dorsal brown "saddle" that gives the species its common name, bold green and white stripes running lengthwise are distinctive. Growing up to two inches long, these caterpillars feed primarily on leaves of beech, birch, and oak trees, where they can cause noticeable but harmless defoliation in late summer.

Threatened, they rear up their front end while curving their body into an S-shape (left), creating an intimidating posture that likely deters potential predators.

This caterpillar forms a pupa in fall and overwinters in soil before emerging as a relatively plain brown moth the following spring. Note in the top photo the caterpillar's insect-typical three pairs of true legs, just posterior to the head; these are complemented by four pairs of sucker-like "prolegs," abdominal walking appendages that disappear in the adult.

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

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

Solitary native bees—some quite tiny—are important goldenrod pollinators and represent one of the most crucial and under-appreciated components of North American pollination networks. While Honeybees and other social bees receive more attention, solitary native bees such as the quarter-inch Pure Green Sweat Bee, Augochlora pura (above), are actually more effective per-individual pollinator due to hairier bodies, different foraging behaviors, and the way they manipulate flowers.

The Pure Green Sweat Bee, known to lick perspiration from humans apparently to get salt—hence its name—is metallic green or bronze in color. These bees are important pollinators in forest ecosystems, particularly favoring woodland edges and semi-shaded areas where they forage on a diverse array of shrubs, wildflowers, and trees. Unlike ground-nesting relatives, the species exhibits the unusual behavior of excavating nest tunnels in rotting wood, making them useful decomposers of dead plant material. They're also effective pollinators for some agricultural crops grown near woodland areas—another very good reason NOT to spray farm fields or forests with insecticides.

Black-throated Blue Warblers breed in mature deciduous and mixed forests across eastern North America, from southeastern Canada down through the Appalachians (including Ashe County NC). Males (above) are distinctive with deep blue upper parts, white belly, and bold black throat and sides, while the female is are a more subdued olive-brown with a characteristic white wing patch that helps distinguish her from other warblers. These insectivorous birds are known for relatively sluggish foraging behavior compared to other parulids, methodically gleaning insects and caterpillars from leaf undersides in the forest understory. During migration, they travel to non-breeding grounds on Caribbean islands where they occupy similar forest habitats. Black-throated Blue Warblers have shown some adaptability to forest management practices and are a species of conservation interest due to dependence on mature forest ecosystems like those around Hilton Pond North.

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

A second much-larger fly was Archytas metallicus (above), a robust member of the Bristle Fly Family (Tachinidae) that plays an important ecological role as a parasitoid of various insects. (This fly, which is indeed bristly, has no common name.) Adults frequently visit nectar-bearing flowers like goldenrod and other late-season blooms, spreading pollen. Like other members of its genus, the species serves a crucial function in natural pest control when the female lays eggs on or near caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects; developing larvae then parasitize and kill the hosts. This helps regulate populations of potential agricultural and forest pests, so as both pollinators and biological control agents these rotund flies are valuable components of healthy ecosystems. (A broken wing on the specimen in the photo suggests it is nearing the end of its lifespan.)