Farmland in southeastern Pennsylvania, as elsewhere, is a tough human-made habitat for wildlife to cope with, particularly to raise families. Every year there is plowing discing, planting and harvesting of acres of monoculture crops. There usually is not enough time for wildlife to raise young between human activities in the fields. But there are a few oases of shelter in croplands that several kinds of wildlife take advantage of, stream bank fencing, ponds, hedgerows, buildings and bird boxes.
Stream bank fencing is implemented in many meadows to keep livestock from breaking down the banks of the streams and brooks that run through them, and passing waste into the water. And because it is hard to mow vegetation between the fence and the waterway, a variety of plants grow tall there and provide cover and food for several kinds of adaptable wildlife.
Red-winged blackbirds are one of the most obvious of bird species in the tall reed canary-grass that grows between the fences and waterways. Several black male red-wings can be seen swaying on the grass, and cattail stems, while they repeatedly sing their "konk-ga-ree" songs. Meanwhile, female red-wings busily build grass nests they anchor to several stalk of grass or cattails. Both genders of red-wings consume a variety of invertebrates, and feed them to their young in their grassy cradles.
Song sparrows hatch young in grassy nurseries on the ground among the grasses, and in shrubbery protected from mowing by stream bank fencing. These little, brown birds are not so obvious because of their size, camouflaging feathering and tendency to stay under cover for the most part. However, song sparrows are stream side shore birds because they often wander along the muddy or gravelly shores of a little waterway to seek and catch invertebrates, almost constantly flicking their tails as they move along.
Baltimore orioles hatch youngsters in deep cradles of grasses and vines suspended from the outer twigs of trees, particularly sycamores, that grow along the edges of waterways. Those beautiful and sturdy oriole pouches sway with every puff of wind. Orioles ingest a variety of invertebrates they find in the trees they summer in.
Mallard ducks and Canada geese nest on the ground under the cover of tall grasses caused by stream bank fencing. Their young hatch toward the end of April which means they started their nesting cycle around the beginning of March when the grass was just staring to grow.
Built farm ponds are also havens for a variety of wildlife that lives around water, including muskrats and mink. Red-wings, song sparrows, mallards and Canadas all nest there. But some of those ponds are stocked with bluegill sunfish and large-mouthed bass for fishing. Of course belted kingfishers, a small variety of herons and an occasional osprey or mink frequent those impoundments to catch and eat some of the fish.
American toads, bull frogs and green frogs spawn in those ponds and many of their tadpoles are consumed by herons and fish. It's neat to hear the trilling of male toads in April and the moaning and belching of the bull frogs and green frogs respectively around these ponds during May through June.
A variety of dragonflies, especially green darners and white tails, catch flying insects around the pond and spawn in it. Dragonfly larvae live in the pond and eat aquatic invertebrates, tadpoles and small fish. After a year in the pond, they become adult dragonflies and leave the water for life on land and in the air. Then we see them skimming swiftly over the water's surface in pursuit of food and mates.
Hedgerows between fields offer haven to a variety of nesting birds, and mammals. Indigo buntings, song sparrows, rufous-sided towhees and gray catbirds are some of the bird species that nest in the cover of shrubbery in those long, thin strips of overgrown thickets. Downy woodpeckers, eastern bluebirds, eastern kingbirds and Baltimore orioles hatch offspring in the trees of those hedgerows, the woodpeckers and bluebirds in cavities and the kingbirds and orioles among twigs.
Hedgerows also benefit a variety of mammals including wood chucks, cottontail rabbits, red foxes, striped skunks and others. Hedgerows to these mammals are places of stability in farm country, places where they can raise young in relative peace and safety, without plowing and other farming activities. While cropland is constantly being cultivated, hedgerows are usually ignored by people.
Wood chucks are the home builders of these farm mammals, digging deep burrows into the soil with a few exits so they are not trapped in their own homes by foxes. But foxes, rabbits, skunks and other animals live in abandoned chuck holes.
Farm houses, barns, bridges and other structures in cropland are havens for other kinds of nesting birds. Barn swallows, rock pigeons and house sparrows are birds that nest most commonly in those buildings. Barn swallows formerly hatched young on rock walls in small caves and on cliffs. To them, barns and bridges are similar to caves. They plaster mud pellet cradles to the sides of support beams in barns and under bridges. These little birds dash over fields to catch flying insects to eat.
Rock pigeons originally nested on rock cliffs of the Mediterranean Sea in Europe. They were domesticated long ago for meat, eggs and sport, and were eventually brought to North America as domestic birds. Some of the birds escaped into the wild and nest on support beams in barns and under bridges and on the rock walls of local quarries. This type of bird ingests grain and seeds.
House sparrows also consume grain and seeds, as well as some invertebrates during the warmer months. This small, brown European species was brought to America to consume insects in New York City. But they spread from that city and live throughout most of the United States. They raise young in sheltering crevices in cropland buildings.
Bird boxes erected in weedy fields, hedgerows and in stream bank fencing areas increase the numbers of certain farmland bird species, including eastern bluebirds, tree swallows, purple martins, which are another kind of swallow, and wood ducks. Bluebirds and tree swallows can be intense rivals over bird boxes in agricultural areas. Sometimes little groups of tree swallows gang up on
a pair of bluebirds to chase them away from a nesting box, then the swallows use that bird house themselves. But while tree swallows prefer cavities near water for nesting, bluebirds do not, so that cuts down a bit on competition for nesting sites between those species.
Purple martins hatch offspring in apartment bird boxes erected on poles about 20 feet high in certain farmyards. Swallows of every type catch and eat flying insects they catch on the wing, much to the delight of farmers, and everyone else.
Wood ducks are a woodland species that is adapting to farmland, mostly through the erecting of wood duck nest boxes along waterways in stream bank fencing that provides tall grasses, shrubbery and young trees that serve as shelter. Female woodies hatch ducklings in those boxes and raise them on invertebrates in the cover of stream bank fencing vegetation along pasture streams.
Cropland is a tough environment for even adaptable wildlife to live in. But the above discussed, human-made habitats and niches help some species to survive in farmland. As in every habitat, the creatures that can adapt to agricultural areas have a future.
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