February 19, 2015 was a day of record cold with a wind chill below 0 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, as throughout much of North America. Early that afternoon I drove on rural roads from New Holland to Lancaster City to take care of personal business, watching for nature as I meandered, sometimes a little out of my way just to see the sights. There was a couple of inches of dry snow on the ground that drifted across fields and country roads. The snow and the bitterly cold wind made the cultivated fields seem wilder. But the day was sunny and the bright sunlight, which felt hotter than in mid-winter because the sun is now "higher" in the sky, took some of the sting out of the weather. And, in spite of the frigid wind, several kinds of adaptable, wintering birds were out in their searches for food, birds I saw as I drove through local cropland.
A mated pair of adult red-tailed hawks perched together in a lone tree in a large field close to home were the first birds I saw that day. I stopped to view them better, but they took flight. I could see the beautiful orange-red of their tails through my 16 power binoculars as they soared and banked on high. That pair probably will nest somewhere in that vicinity this year.
Several scattered turkey vultures soaring on high were the second birds I saw on my trip to Lancaster. As they always do, the vultures constantly tipped from side to side on shallowly V-shaped wingspans to maintain their graceful sailing and balance in the strong wind. And, of course, the vultures were looking for dead animals on the ground that they could eat.
While seeing the vultures as I drove slowly along the rural roads, I saw another large bird that I thought could be a bald eagle. Stopping the car on the side of the road, I looked at the bird through my binoculars and saw that it was an adult bald eagle soaring slowly and majestically into the wind with huge wings held flat out from its body. Bald eagles have made a strong come-back in the Lower 48, including here in Pennsylvania. Today in Lancaster County, for example, one can expect to see a bald eagle most anywhere and at anytime during the day.
I saw several flocks of American crows in various corn fields along the way. They were facing the wind for greater comfort as they walked about in search of corn kernels to eat. Some of the crows took wing into the wind, leaving their relatives on one field to look for corn in another one. The crows flew singly, but in a long, tattered line low to the ground to avoid some of the wind. These crows are here for the winter, having hatched in the forests of Canada and states farther north.
Gatherings of handsome rock pigeons swirled over and landed on corn fields to eat waste corn kernels. These birds roost overnight in barns and under bridges, and perch on top of silos during the day, as they would on their original habitat of rock cliffs over the Mediterranean Sea for safety against predation. Pigeons also ingest tiny bits of gravel to grind the corn in their powerful stomachs.
I saw one group of a few mourning doves, which are pigeon relatives, in a corn field consuming some of the kernels. I almost missed seeing those brown doves because of their camouflage against the corn stubble and soil. Camouflage is needed in those open spaces with little cover because of the predatory hawks that roam the croplands in search of feathered-wrapped meals.
I saw several flocks of horned larks in some fields near the roadside. These birds are sparrow-sized and mostly brown which makes them hard to see until they fly up, including along the roads when vehicles go by. Horned larks are well-suited to living in barren cropland, where crops are harvested to the ground. In winter they feed on weed seeds and waste corn kernels and nestle among clods of soil or tufts of vegetation during the night. And in spring and summer they nest in the bare soil of corn and tobacco fields when those plants are young.
On that cold day of February 19, I saw a small group of lovely eastern bluebirds flying in front of my car as I drove along. They probably were looking for patches of berry-bearing shrubs along the rural roads, so they could feed on the berries. They probably spend the night in a knothole or abandoned woodpecker hole in a tree in a nearby hedgerow between fields.
And as I continued to drive along country roads, a large hawk flew in front of me and landed on an apple tree near the road. I stopped and noted that the hawk was an adult Cooper's, which is a woodland bird that has adapted to catching birds in agricultural areas and suburbs as well.
Continuing to drive along, I saw an American kestrel perching on a roadside wire and watching for mice on the roadside shoulder. A red-tailed hawk was perched in a lone tree off the road about 100 yards from the kestrel. It, too, was looking for mice, or any other creature it could safely handle.
A big flock of hundreds of Canada geese and a small group of mallard ducks were in a corn field close to the suburbs of Lancaster City. They left their resting spot on the Conestoga River to shovel up kernels of corn from the field. Though the Canadas are common here, they are always a thrill to experience in the air, on the ground or on water. And they are almost never silent; one can hear their clamorous bugling whenever they are spotted.
Later in the afternoon, on the way home, I saw more vultures, crows, pigeons, horned larks and another red-tailed hawk, but nothing new for that day, except a distant rough-legged hawk perched on a lone tree in a field. Like the kestrel and red-tails, it was searching for mice, or horned larks, to catch and eat. Rough-legs hatch on cliffs in the Arctic tundra, but come south to open habitats for the winter to find good mouse-hunting areas.
Even on a short drive in winter in an intensely cultivated agricultural area that is harvested to the ground in autumn one can see a variety of adaptable birds, mostly without trying. Nature makes any trip, anywhere, more enjoyable.
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