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Operation RubyThroat receives grant



CAROLINABIRDERS . . . .

I'm sure you can appreciate my excitement about this.  :-)

Thanks to the grant, teachers and students in the Carolinas and New 
York may now participate without paying the registration fee. If you 
know any teachers, please let them know about this opportunity to 
share the excitement of hummingbirds with their students.

Cheers,

BILL

*************

YORK NATURE CENTER RECEIVES $35,000 GRANT FOR HUMMINGBIRD PROJECT

A York, SC, nature education and research facility has received a 
grant of $35,000 from The Christensen Fund in partial support of 
"Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project."

Operation RubyThroat is an outreach initiative of Hilton Pond Center 
for Piedmont Natural History, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization 
whose Mission is "to conserve animals, plants, habitats, and other 
natural components of the Piedmont Region of the eastern United 
States through observation, scientific study, and education for 
students of all ages."

Center executive director Bill Hilton Jr. said "Operation RubyThroat 
is a cross-disciplinary project that capitalizes on broad public 
interest in hummingbirds among children and adults. Now in Year One 
of a three-year start-up, the project eventually will involve 
participants in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El 
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, all of whom 
collaborate to study behavior and distribution of the Ruby-throated 
Hummingbird. The Ruby-throat breeds in Canada and in 38 states in 
this country, and overwinters in Mexico and Central America, so we 
welcome observations throughout its entire range.

"This web-based project is open to anyone," Hilton said, "but two of 
its main goals are to excite young people about science learning and 
to encourage them to build connections with peers in other states and 
countries where Ruby-throated Hummingbirds occur. The Christensen 
grant allows us to waive the modest registration fee for teachers and 
students the Carolinas and New York during Year One, so we especially 
solicit participation from those three states."

Details about the project and how to join are on the Operation 
RubyThroat Web site (http://www.rubythroat.org), which Hilton said 
"has been recognized by USAToday and Scientific American as the most 
comprehensive one available about Ruby-throated Hummingbird natural 
history, banding, and research." General information about Hilton 
Pond Center and its other programs is on a companion Web site at 
http://www.hiltonpond.org .

After targeting the Carolinas and New York in Year One (2001-2002 
academic year), Hilton said Operation RubyThroat will expand in Year 
Two to 35 other states, plus the District of Columbia. The project 
will go international in Year Three when it expands to Canada, 
Mexico, and the seven Central American countries.

The Christensen Fund, based in Palo Alto CA, provides grants to 
non-profits for programs in visual arts, conservation science, and 
K-12 Education related to those fields and studio arts. The grant to 
Operation RubyThroat will be used primarily to develop and distribute 
curriculum materials, provide in-school programs for participants, 
encourage hummingbird habitat protection, and expand the project's 
Web site.

NOTE: Teachers may wish to see what one of their peers had to say 
after field testing Operation RubyThroat during the 2000-2001 school 
year. Her report is at 
http://www.rubythroat.org/FieldTest2000Main.html .

For more information, contact: info@rubythroat.org .

                                            #####


-- 

BILL HILTON JR., "The Piedmont Naturalist"
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA
hilton@hiltonpond.org, (803) 684-5852, eFax: (503) 218-0845

Please visit our web sites at http://www.hiltonpond.org and
http://www.rubythroat.org

"Never trust a person too lazy to get up for sunrise or too busy to
watch the sunset."					BHjr.