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BANDED BIRD RECAPTURES/RETURNS

AT HILTON POND NORTH

1-15 July 2026

SUMMARY: We had few recaptures during the recent two-week period, highlighted primarily by seven Ruby-throated Hummingbirds banded in previous seasons. So far in 2026 we've recaptured 27 RTHU from last year and nine from 2024.

NOTE: List does not include our same-season recaptures, some of which are same-week or even same-day. Birds in RED are in at least their fourth year.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird banded here 08/06/24; now 3rd year female

Ruby-throated Hummingbird banded here 09/06/24; now 3rd year male

Ruby-throated Hummingbird banded here 06/27/25; now after 2nd year female

Ruby-throated Hummingbird banded here 07/25/25; now 2nd year male

Ruby-throated Hummingbird banded here 07/29/25; now after 2nd year male

Ruby-throated Hummingbird banded here 08/03/25; now 2nd year female

Ruby-throated Hummingbird banded here 08/22/25; now 2nd year male

NOTE: RTHU are true long-distance migrants that depart Hilton Pond North for Mexico or Central America. Some are local breeders, while others pass through.

Carolina Chickadee banded here 09/09/24; now 3rd year male

NOTE: Because CACH are non-migratory, it's likely all are year-round residents produced locally or near Hilton Pond North. CACH dispersal after hatch is generally less than 2.5 miles. And since CACH are sexually monomorphic, they can be sexed only in breeding condition (males with cloacal protuberances, females with brood patches).

American Goldfinch banded here 06/23/25; now 3rd year female

NOTE: This AMGO is likely a non-migratory local resident at Hilton Pond North.

Hilton Pond North's Bird & Nature Cam is up and running. Click on the arrow in the image center above to start our 24/7 livestream; sound on to hear bird calls. You can click on the YouTube arrow to subscribe and stay abreast of exciting year-round Nature Cam happenings in upper Ashe County NC, the heart of the Blue Ridge Province. (Sometimes you'll see snow, rain or fog, so our livestream also serves as a weather cam!)

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

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BATS IN OUR TREES, BUT NOT IN A BELFRY

#42: 1-15 July 2026

Random observations about Blue Ridge Birds & Nature

● Banded in 2026: 40 species, 1,566 individuals

● All-time (2024-present) banding totals: 74 species, 4,744 individuals

● All-time (2024-present) "Yard List": 93 species encountered (not all banded)

● Local breeding species (based on nests found, banded females with brood patches, or recent fledglings seen or banded): 21

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 species (Column 4) since banding began at Hilton Pond North on 10 March 2024. Any new species for the current calendar year are in RED.

If you missed our 2025 Ruby-throated Hummingbird Banding Summary, it's still posted HERE.

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

BIRD BANDING RESULTS FOR

HILTON POND NORTH DURING CURRENT PERIOD

1-15 July 2026

All banding at Hilton Pond North is done by Dr. Bill Hilton Jr. (federal master permit #21558) under auspices of the U.S. Bird Banding Laboratory and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, following standard humane procedures for capturing, handling, banding, and releasing wild birds.

NEWLY BANDED BIRDS

AT HILTON POND NORTH

1-15 July 2026

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

Photos & text by Dr. Bill Hilton Jr.

Executive Director, Hilton Pond North: Blue Ridge Birds & Nature

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

SUMMARY: Due to excessive heat and multiple rainy days at Hilton Pond North in early July we did not deploy mist nets some days, instead operating only hummingbird traps. This yielded only 16 birds captured of three species—led by 11 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. We did band four nestling Eastern Bluebirds, the second brood by the same parents in a well-used nest box at our cabin. (Please see details in the text, photos, and chart below.)

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

Apple Podcast #42

Made of nearly invisible mesh, standard mist nets are 39' long by 10' tall. Stretched between two vertical poles nets are an essential tool in capturing birds for banding; in the right location they provide an effective way to sample a local avian population. One shortcoming: Nets are non-selective and may end up snaring not just birds but anything from butterflies to dragonflies to beetles—and, as we have seen lately at Hilton Pond North . . . fast-flying bats!

As we got ready to close our nets one recent summer evening we encountered one of these squirmy winged mammals with 12" wingspan—a female Eastern Red Bat, Lasiurus borealis, that presented more of an extraction challenge than your typical songbird. Yes, some birds claw and bite as we try to remove them from nets but they don't have teeth. Bats do, so we returned to our cabin to retrieve a pair of lightweight leather gloves as protection from the bat's 32 teeth, all sharply pointed (photos above and below).

If you've ever doubted art exists in nature, all you have to do is start looking closely at beetles. Their intense colors (often iridescent), intricate patterns, and elaborate structures are sometimes nearly surreal and worthy of display in any art museum. That notion was confirmed one recent evening when we encountered a High Mountain June Beetle, Polyphylla comes, clinging to our cabin wall at Hilton Pond North. Its mottled black-and-cream elytra (hard wing covers) provided a "salt-and-pepper" lichen-like camouflage typical of the genus—a disruptive but artistic pattern against bark or soil.

Polyphylla larvae are large white grubs that live below ground for 2-4 years feeding on roots before pupating; short-lived inch-and-a-half-long adults are nocturnal and strongly attracted to lights. Males have long, curved antennae with multiple flat layers (lamellae) that enhance surface area and allow detection of faint female pheromones. Several related species are separated geographically, with our P. comes possibly endemic to mountains of North Carolina and southwestern Virginia. Species identification sometimes requires microscopic examination of the insects' genitalia.

We captured two adult Eastern Bluebirds (EABL) within minutes of each other this spring at Hilton Pond North, the first a female caught in one of our mist nets. As EABL are prone to do, she made quite a bit of racket in the net and attracted attention of her mate who subsequently dive-bombed us several times before himself getting snared. Those two raised and fledged four offspring from a standard nest box near our cabin, and returned a month later for a second brood of four, one of which is shown above during the banding process. Note the wing and tail feathers are still partly ensheathed and that the latter all come in at the same time. Areas under the tail and up the middle of the belly are bare, awaiting feathers in longitudinal tracts to lengthen and overlap. Legs are among the first body parts to mature in baby birds—the better to keep them from falling out of nests—so the exposed tibiotarsus can handle an adult-sized band very early, as shown.

For the past six weeks at least one adult male Hooded Warbler (HOWA) has been singing continuously in and around our native plant garden at Hilton Pond North, so we weren't surprised this week to capture and band a youngster of unconfirmed sex (above). Adult male HOWA have the solid black cap and bib for which the species is named, while females and young males typically have a much paler hood. The bird above shows a black eyebrow that—if it's a male—will develop into a full hood before next spring.

When people think about bats they often imagine communal creatures that hang out in caves or human structures by day (belfries) and haunt the night in pursuit of insects or—in the case of vampire bats—look for a blood meal. Red Bats are indeed night flyers, but they tend to roost alone in the foliage of deciduous trees. Curled in the fur of its own tail membrane and suspended by a single five-toed foot, the bat twists gently in the breeze, its rusty pelage rendering it a convincing dead leaf or pine cone to any passing predator. To get into position it uses its slender, hooked thumbs (above) to grasp vegetation.

Male Red Bats (above, from our South Carolina file photo) have brighter pelage than females, whom they pursue during southbound migration in fall. Copulation occurs in flight—sometimes causing the pair to tumble toward earth before separating. After that females store sperm all winter, with ovulation and actual fertilization not occurring until they return in spring as insects become abundant enough to support pregnancy and lactation.

Migration is poorly understood in this widespread North American species; it's likely our Blue Ridge individuals end up in the southeastern U.S. or possibly flying across the Gulf to northeastern Mexico. Some Red Bats in more temperate, lower-elevation areas don't migrate at all, simply burying themselves in leaf litter where their body temperatures crash to nearly the same level as surrounding air. This strategy won't work if readings go much below zero, at which point the bat will die in its temporary hibernaculum. NOTE: Protecting torpid Red Bats is yet another environmental reason NOT to rake leaves in autumn; that dead foliage provides all-important insulation.

A bat's wing is a wonderment, a paper-thin flexible membrane stretched between four incredibly long fingers and also attached to the forearm (at right in our photo) and the animal's flank. As shown earlier, the short clawed thumb protrudes from the wrist while forefinger and middle finger are close together, providing a stronger leading edge. The membrane is living tissue laden with blood vessels that allow for healing of tears and holes. It also helps with cooling as the bat makes high-energy flights, and lab studies on fruit bats suggest measurable oxygen and carbon dioxide diffusion occurs directly across the wing skin. This contributes to overall gas exchange—a rarity among all warm-blooded animals among which cutaneous respiration is otherwise negligible.

In Red Bats the membrane continues between the legs, with a long, flexible tail down the center (above). The bat can use this "uropatagium" like a basket to capture insects and bring them toward its mouth so it can eat while still flying. The most common prey items are likely moths, followed by beetles, True Bugs, and a variety of aerial insects.

Since Eastern Red Bats are solitary and roost in trees, you're unlikely to host one in an artificial bat house, but that's not a reason not to build and hang one in an appropriate place on your property. There are plenty of colonial bat species that might take advantage of your hospitality. These days bats need all the help they can get.