More Birds Coping with Snow

     On January 27, 2016, a few days after a monster blizzard, I drove through Lancaster County, Pennsylvania farmland to find more examples of birds coping with deep snow on the ground.  The new-fallen snow under a blue sky gave a fresh, new look to the countryside and accentuated the colors of deciduous and coniferous trees alike.  I only got a mile from home when I came upon five turkey vultures and a half dozen American crows feeding on a road-killed cat lying in the middle of the country road.  Luckily for the birds there was little traffic on that road.  But at the approach of each vehicle, the vultures and crows flew off the road, circled the spot once and landed again safely at the dead cat behind the moving vehicle and continued feeding on it.
     Wind during and after the blizzard blew snow off certain stretches of fields, exposing the soil or winter rye.  The bare ground would have seeds and tiny stones that horned larks, mourning doves and other kinds of field birds could eat as the snow melted and exposed more patches of ground.  The exposed rye would feed cottontail rabbits and Canada geese.
     I noticed, too, that wind blew snow away from the bases of corn shocks in the fields and trees in fields, meadows and lawns, baring the soil around them.  And as the warm sunlight shines on the shocks and trees, warming them, that heat radiates out and melts more, and more, snow, expanding the ring of bare ground that benefits birds and mammals.
     I had to stop by a tree-studded meadow because of exposed soil around many of the larger pin oak and sycamore trees.  And, sure enough, a few kinds of birds were getting food on that bare ground at the bases of the trees.  A few beautiful blue jays were there, probably eating seeds and acorns.  A red-bellied woodpecker, three yellow-shafted flickers and song sparrow were doing the same, all in those islands of bare soil at the base of each tree, which were surrounded by a sea of deep snow.  The sparrow was scratching up a storm to get seeds.         
     That meadow yielded a few other delightful surprises while I was there.  I saw a red-tailed hawk soaring on high and it appeared totally white as its underside reflected the light bouncing off the snow.  A striking adult red-headed woodpecker flew from one tree to another, revealing its dark upper side, white underparts and totally red head.  And I saw a sleeping gray phase screech owl in the entrance to its hollow in a battered river birch tree.
     As I continued driving through cropland, I saw a loose group of about 12 beautiful northern cardinals, a song sparrow and several white-throated sparrows feeding on seeds and grit along a plowed, thin strip of roadside by a sheltering woodlot.  They flew into the woods at the approach of any vehicle, of which there were few, but soon came out again to feed on seeds along the road.
     Seeing strips of bare ground under rows or stands of half-grown conifers, that catch much of the falling snow in their needled boughs, reminded me that dark-eyed juncos, American goldfinches and other kinds of small birds that shelter in those same conifers, eat seeds under those sheltering trees.  Those planted conifers are mostly on lawns where they add much beauty to that human-made habitat.
     Needless to say, this was a good field trip close to home.  And it revealed how adaptable wildlife can be, particularly through rough times in human-made habitats.