[Pollinator] Hilton Pond 03/01/10 (Belize Hummingbirds)

[Bill Hilton Jr. (RESEARCH)]

Costa Rica or Belize? Belize or Costa Rica? We've been to both now on our Operation RubyThroat hummingbird banding expeditions; we never thought anything could beat Costa Rica, but Belize might. We've just returned from the latter and have compiled our biggest installment ever of "This Week at Hilton Pond," a comprehensive, image-laden account of our field work in that tiny Central American country on the Yucatan Peninsula.

The trip was worthy of nearly 90 photos of all sorts of tropical flora and fauna, Cashew plantations and pollination, and even Mayan archaeological sites, plus an account of Ruby-throated Hummingbird banding successes by our latest group of "citizen scientists"--many of whom already had been with us to Costa Rica. 

We'll be announcing plans for our upcoming 2011 expeditions to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Belize in a few weeks. Meanwhile, take a look at our Belize write-up for 1-21 March 2010 at <<http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek100301.html>>

Depending on server traffic, our big photo essay may take a while to load; if it's busy, please be sure to check back later.

We also banded and recaptured a few birds at Hilton Pond so far in March; lists of those are included with this week's installment.

Happy (Tropical) Nature Watching!

BILL

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RESEARCH PROGRAM
c/o BILL HILTON JR. Executive Director
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA
(803) 684-5852

Please visit our web sites (courtesy of Comporium.net):
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History at http://www.hiltonpond.org 
"Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project" at http://www.rubythroat.org

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