At some time every March in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the farmland here swarms with migrant ducks, geese, swans, grackles, robins and gulls, making this month an exciting time of year, every year.  March 16, 2015 was one of those March days when those kinds of birds seemed to be everywhere in good numbers.
     On March 16th, I was driving through farmland between the Lititz Pike and Oregon Pike a couple miles east of Neffsville.  All the fields and pastures were soggy and some were even flooded in the lower spots as a result of recently melting snow, and rain.  And I noticed there were a lot of Canada geese and purple grackles, seemingly almost everywhere in the soggy, puddled fields.  I thought this was a good time to continue driving around and experience those migrant birds while they were still here.  With the warm weather we have had in recent days, I figured those birds wouldn't be here much longer.
     I drove up to a large flock of beautiful Canada geese in a series of corn and alfalfa fields and checked through that gathering with binoculars to pick out waterfowl other than Canadas that might be there.  Sure enough, I spotted a few pairs each of mallards, American wigeons and pintails feeding on the same vegetation that the geese were.  Those kinds of ducks usually travel in companies of their own kind, but, sometimes, some individual ducks of each type join goose gatherings for safety in numbers.  Anyway, those ducks help make the Canada goose hordes more interesting to experience.
     As I searched among the geese for ducks, a large congregation of snow geese flew over the fields and the Canadas, but they didn't land anywhere nearby.  Early in spring snow geese often form hordes of tens of thousands that put down in fields to feed on vegetation before moving on to other feeding fields, and others until they finally push north to their nesting territories on the Arctic tundra.
     And while I watched the Canadas for duck species among the geese, I saw group after group of tundra swans putting down about a half mile away, behind a hill.  When I finished observing the geese and ducks before me, I set off by car to find the swans.  Along the way I saw large flocks of purple grackles in the air and on the fields where they were looking for invertebrates to eat.  There were scatterings of American robins on some fields and meadows where they were searching for earthworms and other types of invertebrates.   
     After a few minutes of winding along country roads, I saw the swans on and around a large pool in the middle of an extensive field.  I couldn't get closer to the swans than a few hundred yards, but with my 16 power binoculars, I could see them quite well, and a handful each of Canada geese, ring-billed gulls and some kind of ducks on the water. 
     The whole time of was there, I watched group after group of swans parachuting majestically and gracefully to that temporary pond in the field.  What an inspiring sight!  The gatherings of descending swans varied from 7 to a few score of birds.  By the time I left the swans, there must have been well over a thousand of them on that one soggy field.  And I must say that tundra swans are the most magnificent of all waterfowl.       As I watched those stately swans circling down to the water and field, I noticed several ducks take off from the melt water.  Those ducks were fast, streamlined and some of them had long tail feathers.  They were pintails that were on the water amid the swans.  Those ducks circled the flooded field a few times and descended again at breakneck speed to a landing on the water.             
     All those birds, the geese, swans, ducks, gulls, grackles and robins, have adapted to getting food on farmland and resting on human-made impoundments, especially at this time of year when they are passing through on migration north or west.  Many other kinds of life are also adaptable and we humans must give that life a chance to prove it.
     While watching all these different species of migrant and inspiring birds in my home area that is almost totally devoted to the needs of people, I thought this area is as full of life the year around as most any other spot on Earth.  And I think my home area is better than wildernesses to experience how life adapts to what we do as a species.  I've noticed some people in this area are letting their land become overgrown to some extent, or they're creating wetlands or attractive landscaping that feeds and shelters wildlife, or erecting bird boxes, all of which benefits wildlife, which quickly move into those human-made habitats.  I must confess I appreciate people more when some of them give the rest of life a chance to develop on this planet.  It's not hard to benefit adaptable wildlife; just stop manicuring everything.
     March 16, 2015 was quite a migrant wildlife day for me in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Any day of the year for the rest of my life and for the rest of the life of each reader could be filled with natural beauties and intrigues.  We just need to get out anytime, anywhere to experience it.  It's all around us.