<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div>"This Week at Hilton Pond" we explore our small front yard at the Center, finding and photographing a diverse assemblage of flora and fauna from predatory insects to immature hummingbirds to unexpected orchids. For a photo essay about these organisms that could be hanging out in your own front yard, please see our installment for 22-26 August 2010 at <a href="http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek100822.html">http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek100822.html</a> . We also pose a question about the importance of Sourwood trees as a hummingbird nectar source.<br><br>This edition includes the exiting first announcement of how YOU--thanks to the amazing generosity of an alumnus from past Operation RubyThroat expeditions--can go with us for FREE next winter to Costa Rica. If you've always wanted to study hummingbirds in the warm, sunny Neotropics when winter weather is at its worst in North America, here's your big chance to receive one of TWO $1,799 trip scholarships while supporting Hilton Pond Center's education, research, and conservation endeavors.<br><br>Don't forget to scroll down for a list of birds banded at Hilton Pond during the most recent period, as well as a couple of miscellaneous nature notes.<br><br>Happy Nature Watching!<br><br>BILL<div><br><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Geneva; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">=========<br><br>RESEARCH PROGRAM<br>c/o BILL HILTON JR. Executive Director<br>Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History<br>1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA<br>office & cell (803) 684-5852<br>fax (803) 684-0255<br><br>Please visit our web sites (courtesy of <a href="http://Comporium.net">Comporium.net</a>):<br>Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History at <a href="http://www.hiltonpond.org">http://www.hiltonpond.org</a> <br>"Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project" at <a href="http://www.rubythroat.org">http://www.rubythroat.org</a><br><br>==================</span>
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