BIRD BANDING RESULTS FOR

HILTON POND NORTH DURING CURRENT PERIOD

15-30 September 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.

NEWLY BANDED BIRDS

AT HILTON POND NORTH

15-30 September 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

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

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

Despite its name, Canada Enchanter's Nightshade is in the Evening Primrose Family, Onagraceae, and is unrelated to true nightshades, Solanaceae. The plant's common epithet likely derives from a medieval habit of ascribing magical or mysterious properties to flora that grow in dark, shady places. To our knowledge, this plant's only "magic" is it is pollinated primarily by small flies or gnats AND clings to creatures with tiny seedpod hooks. (The original artistic rendering above shows the bulbous ovary at the base of the "nightshade" flower. This becomes the hooked seed pod.)

In our lead paragraph we stated even hummingbirds may get "hooked by plants," and that was indeed the case this week at Hilton Pond North. While we were preparing to band a just-captured immature female Ruby-throated Hummingbird we noticed something unusual: A dark lump hidden among its tail feathers. With fine-tipped forceps we were finally able to extract the object, which turned out to be the little "nightshade" seedpod in the top photo on this page. Not counting its stem the pod was only an eighth of an inch long, but its tiny hooks still clung tightly to the bird's plumage. In nearly 50 years of studying hummers we've never encountered such a hitchhiker, which got us to thinking about a related event that occurred nearly that long ago in the wilds of Pocahontas County WV.

One summer in the 1980s we were leading a field trip for the National Youth Science Camp, hiking along the West Fork of the Greenbrier River. Hearing a rattling sound in vegetation along the riverbank, we cautioned the group to stop moving—ever mindful Timber Rattlesnakes occur in that region. Listening intently, we concluded the noise sounded more like some large insect, perhaps a cicada, buzzing in the bush. After a few minutes we finally located the source of the commotion. Turns out it was coming from a patch of non-native Common Burdock, Arctium minus (above), whose inflorescence (and eventual seedpod) has little hooks similar to those on our Canada Enchanter's Nightshade back here at Hilton Pond North.

Right in front of us at eye level in the weeds we were astounded by the sight of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, flapping frantically as it hung upside down—stuck tight to a purple burdock flower (above). After examining the hummer closely we realized extricating it from its dilemma couldn't easily be done in the the field, so with our pocket knife we cut the burdock stem with hummingbird attached and hurried back to our desk at the camp's Natural Sciences Lab. There we used a hand lens to discover just one burdock hook had a secure grip around the hummer's right leg.

Using fine surgical scissors we carefully clipped the hook at its base, gently rotated it off the undamaged leg, and soon had the West Virginia hummingbird safely in hand. Based on measurements and wing feather configuration we confirmed, as suspected, it was an adult female ruby-throat. We banded her, of course, and sent her on her way, wondering all the while how long she would have survived hooked to that burdock flower.

All these years later we wondered the same after  extracting a "nightshade" seedpod this week from a North Carolina hummingbird's tail. Would this bird have lost her hitchhiker at some point? Would she have survived migration with extra baggage? Would she have carried the seedpod with her and disseminated a native North American plant to some new habitat in the Neotropics? Those questions are all moot, of course, since we removed the seed pod before we released this most recent hummer  at Hilton Pond North. All we know is in a 40-year span we managed to help two "hooked" Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that otherwise might have fallen victim to Mother Nature's original Velcro.

A MASSIVE ANT SWARM

Sunset from Hilton Pond North on 25 September 2025. We had rain the day before but only a threat after that. Nonetheless, the skies were churning above our cozy little cabin on the 25th, bringing this impressive evening tableau.

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

Looking out our office window at Hilton Pond North at 5 p.m. on 19 September we noticed unusual movement on the ground beneath our remotely triggered hummingbird trap. Upon closer examination we realized the commotion was a fall emergence of thousands of ants, both yellow workers and darker, much larger "alates" (winged males and queens). Initially we identified the colony as Common Citronella Ants, Lasius claviger, but deeper research showed they were actually Larger Citronella Ants, L. interjectus, also known simply as Large Yellow Ants. The difference lies in the color of the alates: Pale and yellowish in the Common, dark and with smoky wings in the Larger.

The colony was a frenzy of activity, with every ant seemingly wandering without a destination. Most of the individuals stayed on ground-covering leaves of Creeping Charlie, Glechoma hederacea, but several hundred climbed 2-3' up the pole holding the hummingbird trap. Yellow workers touched the alates frequently, perhaps providing some sort of encouragement. To see the colony in action, click on the video below.

Large Citronella Ant is a subterranean species that—like its smaller relative—releases a distinctive lemony scent when disturbed. It lives primarily below ground, where workers tend root aphids and other honeydew-producing insects in extensive tunnel systems under stones and logs, or beneath concrete slabs often adjacent to buildings. The species is found across the continental U.S. in wooded areas, grasslands, and even urban settings but seldom enters human dwellings unless there are cracks in foundations. It plays a vital ecological role by aerating soil and breaking down organic matter.

This ant's nuptial flights typically occur during warm September evenings at Hilton Pond North, creating spectacular synchronized emergences where many thousands of alates launch simultaneously from other nearby but unrelated colonies. Once a colony's males and queens take wing its workers disappear back into their tunnel system very quickly—leaving little trace of what just happened; the entire swarming behavior depicted in our short video took less than 15 minutes!

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

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

Of about three dozen Wood Warblers (Parulidae) in the eastern U.S., the one most easily identified from beneath is Magnolia Warbler, whose tail spots (above) create a white band midway across the rectrices. This feature is visible even in side view (below), as are a white eye ring and superciliary line, two white wing bars, bright yellow underparts, and dark flank streaking. (There's also a yellow rump not visible in our photo.) In spring the male develops a large white wing patch and both sexes have a black face. Here at Hilton Pond North we've banded seven in two fall migrations, none in spring.

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

Despite its name referencing Southern Magnolia trees, this boreal species nests much further north in in dense stands of conifers across Canada and New England and down the Appalachians into West Virginia. Males vigorously chase other males and females even during migration, and both sexes aggressively defend individual feeding territories on non-breeding grounds in Central America. In their scientific name, Setophaga magnolia, the genus means "moth-eating," reflecting an insectivorous diet. This North American genus is quite large and includes 37 species that—despite being closely related—are genetically, morphologically, behaviorally, and ecologically distinct. (Older texts show a few Setophaga warblers as Dendroica spp. or Parula spp., but several of these were genus-lumped when DNA analysis accurately revealed closer relationships.)

Although that Magnolia Warbler is easily identified by a glance at its distinctive tail markings, such is not the case for many parulids. We've always thought the illustrious Roger Tory Peterson did birders a disservice in his ground-breaking 1943 field guide when he coined the phrase "confusing fall warblers," leading some to re-phrase it as "impossible fall warblers." In reality there are only a half dozen or so species difficult to differentiate in non-breeding plumage, and with practice and an eye for detail those become much easier. For example, take these two warblers (above and below).

The top bird is a Bay-breasted Warbler, a relatively uncommon fall migrant in the eastern U.S.; in breeding attire the adult male would have a black face and a throat and flanks of deep chestnut. The lower bird is a somewhat less common Blackpoll Warbler, in which the adult male in spring is all black and white.

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

Look carefully at our two photos of immature fall birds for similarities and differences. At first glance they seem nearly identical: White wing bars, pale yellowish underparts with pale streaking, and a darker line through the eye. Often there are other subtle differences, such as the blackpoll showing pale undertail coverts with slight streaking, while bay-breasted vent feathers are slightly buffy. In good light blackpoll upperparts are usually deep olive green but typically lime-green in bay-breasted—tones particularly bright in its nape. However, if you examine the two photos carefully you can see an obvious diagnostic difference between these two species: Blackpoll Warblers have paler, yellow or orange-ish feet, while toes and legs of Bay-breasted Warblers are dark gray to black!