A quarter-mile strip of Mill Creek that closely parallels Meadow Creek Road in a shallow, agricultural valley about a mile and a half south of New Holland, Pennsylvania is an interesting wildlife area. Banks along parts of this creek have been fenced to keep livestock out of that waterway, which results in much lush, overgrown vegetation that provides shelter and food for a variety of adaptable wild creatures. This creek and its overgrown shorelines in a farmland meadow embodies one of my favorite local habitats.
Some abundant plants in this habitat, that is 12 yards across on average, including the width of the stream, are water cress in the water, tall reed canary-grass, a few each of staghorn sumac trees, young black walnut trees, crab apple trees, mulberry trees, silver and ash-leafed maple trees, elderberry bushes, common milkweeds and three kinds of thistles. Monarch butterflies visit the milkweeds to sip their nectar and lay eggs on their thick leaves.
Many kinds of aquatic critters live in this stream, partly because of the jungle of plants that provide shelter and shade that keeps the water cool. A few hen mallard ducks raise ducklings here. Schools of banded killifish and black-nosed dace are abundant in this waterway. I see the shadows of those stream-lined minnows on the muddy and gravelly bottom of the stream better than those brown-topped fish themselves because of their blending into their surroundings. I sometimes hear green frogs croaking along the water's edges and see predatory northern water snakes prowling through the water and vegetation after small fish and frogs.
Every summer I see a few green herons and belted kingfishers stalking minnows in the stream, which is entertaining. Probably a pair of each species nests here as well, the herons in a stick cradle in a nearby tree and the kingfishers in a burrow they dug into a stream bank. The herons wade in shallow parts of the waterway, while the kingfishers either perch on a tree limb hanging over the water or hover into the wind, then dive beak-first into the water after small fish they catch in their long beaks.
Muskrats dig dens into the stream banks at the normal water level, then abruptly tunnel up to just below the grass roots level. These rodents eat water plants, grasses, cattail roots and other vegetation near their watery homes. Females raise a few broods of young every summer.
Mink live along this waterway, and many others throughout Lancaster County. They catch and eat muskrats, frogs, water snakes, fish, mice, small birds and other types of critters they can subdue. They often live in abandoned muskrat burrows, some of which were made deserted by the mink killing and consuming the original owners.
Green darner dragonflies, white-tailed dragonflies and bluet damselflies patrol the waterway to catch flying insects and look for mates. Damselflies were predatory larvae in the creek the previous year.
A few kinds of shorebirds patrol the shores of the creek for invertebrates to eat. A couple pairs of killdeer plovers and a pair of spotted sandpipers raise young along the stream and the bordering short-grass meadows. In July and August, a few each of least sandpipers and lesser yellowlegs, which is another kind of sandpiper, migrating south from their breeding grounds in northern Canada, stop to wade in the shallows of this waterway to eat aquatic invertebrates before continuing their flights farther south to escape the coming winter. Those least sandpipers and yellowlegs, while they are here, bring a bit of far away lands to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Several other kinds of birds live, nest or feed, or all three, along Mill Creek because of its thick growth of vegetation. A few pairs each of song sparrows and red-winged blackbirds eat invertebrates and build nurseries in the tall grasses along the waterway. Song sparrows are permanent residents here, but red-wings are present only in summer to raise young.
Permanent resident northern cardinals and American goldfinches, and summering gray catbirds, willow flycatchers and eastern kingbirds, which are another kind of flycatchers, hatch babies in the shrubbery and smaller trees along Mill Creek. All these species ingest invertebrates, except the goldfinches. That latter species is mostly vegetarian, consuming seeds, particularly thistle seeds at this time of year, and algae in the water. The flycatchers snare flying insects in mid-air.
Barn swallows, rough-winged swallows and purple martins, which are another type of swallow, are entertaining to watch cruising swiftly along this waterway and over neighboring fields and meadows to catch flying insects. These flying birds weave among their airborne relatives at breakneck speed with never a collision.
Barn swallows raise young in barns and under bridges near this waterway, while martins hatch offspring in large apartment bird boxes erected in farmyards especially for them. Rough-wings, however, raise babies in holes they dug themselves in the stream banks. However, some rough-wing pairs use abandoned kingfisher burrows, or drain pipes extending over the water.
There are other beautiful and interesting waterways and pastures in farmland like this one throughout the eastern United States where one can enjoy a variety of adaptable plants and animals. Now the challenge is to get out and experience some of them wherever you may be.
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