Sheltering From Cold Winds

     Over the years, I have seen many kinds of birds sheltering from cold, winter wind here in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Flocks of house sparrows and house finches perch on the southern, sunny sides of bushes and thickets where they can warm in the sunlight, out of the frigid northwest winds.  Groups of dark-eyed juncos avoid cold wind by roosting in young spruce and fir trees.  And one can see red-tailed hawks perched on the lee side of trees out of the wind as they watch for rodents to catch and eat.  But for two hours today at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I saw a few kinds of waterfowl in the shelter of trees and shrubbery on the north side of a pond and lake.  Both these human-made impoundments are easily seen from a road that runs between them.
     The two-acre pond had a bit more diverse community of scores of Canada geese and five species of ducks, including a few mallards, several black ducks, seven gadwalls, eight hooded mergansers and several ring-necked ducks.  All these waterfowl species are here all winter, every winter.  But today most of these birds were close beside sheltering crack willows and silver maples on the north shore of the pond, which blocked the frigid north wind, protecting those water birds.  These birds are also camouflaged under the branches hanging over the water.  And if they were attacked by a hawk or eagle, they could dive under the limbs or under the water to avoid the attack.
     Because that shore of the pond was near the road and my using 16 power binoculars, I could see the ducks and geese close-up and intimately.  I could easily see every detail of their beautiful feathering and feeding techniques.   
     Though the geese had been eating grass before floating on the pond to rest, all the duck species were feeding in the water near the sheltering thickets of young trees.  The mallards, blacks and gadwalls were all "tipping up" to feed on under water vegetation in the shallow water along the pond's edge. Mallards and blacks, also consume waste corn kernels in harvested corn fields.
     The mergansers repeatedly dove under water to catch small fish.  And they were successful much of the time as I could see them choking down small fish whole and headfirst.
     And the ring-necked ducks also dove under water to eat aquatic vegetation and invertebrates.  Interestingly, these five waterfowl were feeding in the pond with a minimum of competition for food.
     A couple of times some of the ducks and geese ventured into mid-pond where there was no protection from the wind.  There they were hunched against the cold wind and bobbed in the wind-blown, rough water.  The mergansers and ring-necks continued to dive for food.  But soon most of those waterfowl swam back to the north edge of the pond where they were again sheltered by the thickets of trees and shrubs.     
     A shallow cove of the large lake, directly across the road from the pond, was a shelter for scores of resting Canada geese, a couple dozen black ducks, and a few each of mallards and common mergansers.  A thin strip of deciduous woods that is about two hundred yards long and dominated by tall European black alders blocks the cold north winds from that cove in the lake.  Most of the geese in the cove were asleep with their beaks under a wing.  But when they get hungry, they fly out to grass fields and harvested corn fields to get food.   
     It was interesting to me to see these water birds seeking shelter from cold, winter winds.  They have a lot of down to trap their body heat and outer feathers impervious to water, but they still were seeking shelter, at least at times.  And it was exciting to me to see these birds so close up because they stuck tight to their shelter, at least for the most part.