Wildlife at a Restaurant

     My wife and I stopped at a restaurant on the edge of a mall near York City, Pennsylvania one afternoon in the middle of April, 2015.  We sat inside at a window overlooking a wooden dining deck, a small lawn of short grass, a slow-moving stream coming away from the shopping mall and an old, wooden covered bridge sheltering a walkway.  While dining, we began to notice certain species of wildlife outside the windows.  They were kinds of animals that are common here because they are adaptable and use human-made habitats, structures and activities to their own advantage. 
     The first creatures I saw were a few each of Canada geese and mallard ducks lounging on the shallow stream that I believe drains at least some rain water off the large parking lot of the mall.  But then I noticed a female goose on her grassy nest on the ground up a slope from the water and another goose on her nursery on mulch just off the deck.  At this time of year, both geese were probably incubating clutches of about four eggs each.  We saw one of the geese stand up to roll her eggs over, as all birds do.  Both those broods of goslings will soon hatch.    
     Of the four mallards, only one was a hen.  That leads me to think that the other drakes' mates are hatching eggs somewhere.  But because ducks are smaller than geese and not as pugnacious as their larger cousins, female ducks hide their clutches of 12 or more eggs.
     A couple of American robins hunted earthworms and other invertebrates on the lawn around the restaurant.  Several young trees planted on the lawn will provide nesting sites for those robins.
     When looking at the covered bridge, I noticed several large insects flying around and through it.  I knew they were female carpenter bees that recently emerged from spending the past winter in nearby soil to escape the cold.  Since the bridge was old and the wood soft from the start of decay, I knew those female carpenter bees would use their mouth parts to chew perfectly round holes the width of their bodies into the underside of the wood to create nurseries for their larvae.  When the holes would be completed, each bee will stuff a ball of flower nectar and pollen in the back of the hollow, lay an egg on it and partition it off with wax.  Then she will section off another egg with food and so on until the cavity is filled and closed.  Each bee continues doing that with every cavity she created until all holes are filled with eggs and stored food.  Each larva hatches, eats the nectar and pollen, changes to an adult bee and exits its birth chamber as it becomes empty from the front of the tunnel to its end.  Carpenter bees today use built wooden structures, AND traditional, dead tree limbs to raise their broods.  Built structures, in part, replace the trees that were removed to create farmland and lawns.       Amusingly, when people on the deck were finished eating and left, a troop of house sparrows suddenly swept onto the deck and hopped about on the floor to eat crumbs.  Those sparrows long ago discovered that people on the deck meant crumbs to eat.  Presumably, those little, brown birds perch nearby all day, every day during warmer months and wait for the diners to leave.  Since that restaurant only recently served food in warm weather on the deck, it is amazing how those sparrows remembered food on that deck last year.  And it's equally noteworthy how fast critters learn knew ways to survive.  In fact, it is the adaptable plants and animals that will ultimately survive human activities on Earth.       
     When I went on the deck to see what else might be living in the clear water, I saw small schools of banded killifish, which are a kind of minnow.  Actually, I saw their shadows on the muddy bottom of the stream better than the fish themselves because they were brown like the mud and nearly invisible even when they swam as a group.  Camouflage saves lives. 
     My wife and I were at that restaurant only an hour, but we saw adaptable, interesting  wildlife.  Anyone can have the same experience.  Just stay alert and watch for the possibilities wherever you might be, anytime of year.