Nests in Lone Trees in Farmland

     Several kinds of creatures build nests in the scattered deciduous trees in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania cropland, a large, human-made habitat in this area.  Those nurseries are most visible in winter when the trees are devoid of foliage.  But in winter, of course, they are not used, allowing them to be closely examined.  Those cradles range from those of bald-faced hornets, gray squirrels, American goldfinches, eastern kingbirds, northern orioles, American crows to red-tailed hawks and bald eagles.
     Bald-faced hornets are insects related to bees and wasps.  Worker hornets chew dead wood and mix it with their saliva to make paper with which they make six-sided, paper cells and paper coverings to protect those cells and the hornet larvae growing in them. 
     Each spring a fertilized queen bald-faced hornet makes a tiny paper nest on a twig in a tree and lays an egg in each of the few cells she makes.  She nurtures her sterile, female offspring until they are able to gather nectar for themselves, paralyze insects to feed to their younger sisters and add additions to their paper home until it is about the size of a football by the end of summer.
     During the cold of autumn, the workers drop out of their papery homes and die.  Only the queen survives winter by burying deep in the soil, emerging the next spring to start a new colony.
     Gray squirrels create bulky homes of dead leaves in forks of twigs in the trees of hedgerows, if they can't find tree cavities.  Those leafy abodes protect their inhabitants from cold winds and predation from hawks and owls.  Squirrels eat grains, seeds and nuts they find near their homes.  
     American goldfinches and eastern kingbirds build nursery cups among twigs in the lower branches of farmland trees.  Those of the yellowish goldfinches are petite and lined with thistle down which makes them tight and soft.  Nests of the kingbirds are larger and more twiggy.  The goldfinches mostly consume seeds while the kingbirds, which are dark on top and white below, ingest flying insects.  Early in fall, kingbirds migrate south to south America for the winter.
     The striking, orange and dark northern orioles hang bag-like cradles from the outermost twigs low in larger trees, usually over fields, roads and streams.  Their nurseries are tied together and to twigs with sinewy plant fibers.  Orioles eat invertebrates they find in the trees and migrate to Central and South America for the winter.
     Pairs of American crows build large stick nests near the tops of trees in cropland, as in local wood lots and suburbs.  For their size, crows are secretive parents, feeding larger invertebrates and fruits to their young.         
     Several pairs of red-tailed hawks raise young in Lancaster County cropland.  These raptors usurp the cradles of crows during mid-winter before the crows have a chance to reclaim them.  Red-tails quietly and discretely feed their one to three youngsters mice, rats, squirrels, pigeons, mallard ducklings and other kinds of prey abundant in farmland. 
     But, by far, the biggest stick nurseries in cropland trees are those of the few pairs of bald eagles that raise young in that built habitat.  Eagles take over the nests of crows and hawks by December and neither of those species will challenge the big eagles to get their cradles back.  During winter, pairs of eagles add sticks to their nurseries, making them large and bulky, and easily seen from a distance.  The magnificent eagles feed fish, rabbits, muskrats and other creatures, and carrion, to their one to three young in the nest. 
     The nurseries of these various types of creatures that nest in farmland are most visible in winter.  Spotting them adds to the enjoyment of being outdoors anytime of year.