Pairs of Birds

     I was riding through farmland in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on a warm, sunny afternoon in the middle of April in 2015 to see what wildlife was visible.  I wasn't seeing much from the quiet rural roads I was traveling on until I came to a stretch of the upper Conestoga River, which has been a good spot in the past for experiencing wildlife.  I saw a pair of mallard ducks mating on a slow section of the river, so I parked on a bridge over the water to see what else might be going on in that spot. 
     At first I didn't see anything except the mallards in the middle of the Conestoga.  But then I started to see through the other bird species' camouflage as they moved about, including a couple of Wilson's snipe, which are a kind of inland sandpiper.  The snipe wintered along smaller waterways here and consumed invertebrates they pulled out of the mud under shallow water with their long beaks.  But soon they will migrate farther north to nest. 
     As it turned out, and in spite of most of the birds being camouflaged in their respective niches in an overgrown meadow, I counted 13 species of birds in an hour's time in the area of the Conestoga and the bridge I was parked on, 11 of which were in pairs that probably will nest in that pasture.  The mallard hen will nest in that area because she can conceal her clutch of at least 12 eggs on the ground under the tall grass near the river.
     The first pair of birds I saw after the mallards was a pair of wood ducks swimming behind the mallards.  The woody hen will raise young in that area because of wind-caused hollows in large trees and a couple of wood duck nest boxes erected in that overgrown pasture straddling the river.
     I saw a pair each of cardinals and song sparrows that will hatch youngsters in grassy nurseries in shrubbery in that meadow.  Males of both those common species were singing from the tops of saplings while I was there.
     I saw a sparrow that seemed different than the song sparrows.  I looked at the bird perched in a sapling with 16 power binoculars and saw it was a male savannah sparrow with much yellow on its face.  It was singing "tsee, tsee, tsee, tseeeeeee-saaaaaaaa".  Another sparrow "caught my eye" and I saw through the binoculars that it was a female savannah.  That pair of savannahs probably will nest on the ground in the pasture when the grass grows taller.
     A couple male red-winged blackbirds were singing "kon-ga-reeee" from saplings in the meadow while female red-wings moved about to feed on insects.  The female red-wings will build grass cradles among blades of tall grass above the ground.
     I saw one pair of American robins fluttering among the young trees and shrubbery in that overgrown pasture.  They will probably stay in the meadow to rear offspring in a mud and grass nursery in a young tree because there is mud along the river to make a nest and earthworms and other invertebrates to feed on and feed to their youngsters.
     A pair each of rock pigeons and mourning doves came to a mud flat along the river, not at the same time, to drink from shallow water.  The pigeons will nest in a nearby barn while the doves will hatch young in two staggered cradles in trees or bushes in a nearby farmyard.  The related pigeons and doves eat weed seeds and grain from nearby fields and drink regularly from the river.
     A pair each of rough-winged swallows and barn swallows were flying over the river and pasture after flying insects or perching on saplings between feeding forays.  Those pairs of swallows of both species will nest under the bridge, the rough-wings in a drainage pipe and the barns in a mud pellet cradle plastered to a wall just under the bridge ceiling.  Those different nesting niches reduce competition between these related birds for nesting sites.  But both species will eat the plentiful flying insects that will be in the area all summer.      
     At least a pair each of other species of birds, including killdeer plovers, one of which I saw that April day in 2015, spotted sandpipers, northern flickers, American kestrels and eastern bluebirds,  have nested in years past in that overgrown pasture along the Conestoga near the bridge I was on.  I saw those species there in the last few summers, but not yet this year.  Spotties hatch young on the ground under tall grass and feed on invertebrates on mud flats along the river.  Killdeer young eat insects and so on along the edges of the water and the country road.  The northern flickers chip a cavity out of a dead limb on a large, live tree in the meadow where they raise youngsters on invertebrates.  Kestrels and bluebirds hatch offspring in abandoned flicker holes or other tree cavities.       With patience and seeing through the birds' camouflaged plumage, I spotted several kinds of birds in that weedy, shrubby pasture.  Most of those species, and a few others I mentioned, will likely stay in that meadow to rear offspring.  With time and patience, the reader can find places filled with adaptable wildlife like the spot I watched for an hour that day in mid-April.  Observing plants and animals where they naturally live is always entertaining and inspiring.