Winter Water Birds at Middle Creek

     At some point every winter I visit the large, human-made impoundment at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Lancaster and Lebanon Counties in Pennsylvania to enjoy the water birds wintering there.  I went to Middle Creek for a couple of hours during an afternoon in the middle of January, 2016 to see what was happening.  Right away I noticed the lake was mostly frozen with some long leads of open water, making it appear wild, beautiful and inspiring in its own chilly way.  And I saw thousands of big, white tundra swans sitting on the ice and water.  A quick glance at the lake also revealed thousands of Canada geese and hundreds of black ducks on the ice and water.  Cold wind blew relentlessly across the mostly frozen lake, but the huddled waterfowl have wonderfully insulating feathers to withstand the cold. 
     In my mind I was in luck; these are my favorite wintering ducks, geese and swans, which are hardy, majestic and inspiring.  And, luckily for me, these abundant and magnificent species of waterfowl have dominated the main impoundment at Middle Creek with their numbers and constant comings and goings every winter for years.  To me, they represent winter on built impoundments.
     Elegant swans coming back to the lake from feeding on corn kernels in harvested corn fields and fields of winter rye were particularly regal when parachuting down, group after group, some of them bugling, to the water with hardly a wing beat until just before landing.  Meanwhile, other, magnificent flocks of swans lifted off the water by running over it into the wind and beating their longs wings.  Their broad, webbed feet sounded like applause as they ran over the water.  Finally, tattered V's and long lines of swans were in the air and on their way too feeding fields, with a wooded mountain providing a wild backdrop to their picturesque flights.
     The Canada geese and black ducks moved around a bit, but not like the swans.  They mostly rested on the lake.  But some of the geese did become airborne, with much honking, to shift positions on the ice.  Distant black ducks appeared black against the ice and water as they walked and swam among their larger cousins. 
     Canada geese and black ducks also feed in harvested corn fields about twice a day, as the swans also do.  And at some point, I saw scores of black ducks in little gangs zip back to the lake and land on it into the wind, flashing their white under wing feathers, which was a stark contrast to their dark feathering.  All birds take off and land into the wind for better lift and flight control.
     There were other kinds of water-loving birds on or along the lake that afternoon.  I counted eight graceful great blue herons nestled low along a shoreline to avoid the wind between fishing forays in the lake.  And at one time a magnificent adult bald eagle and an immature bald were in the air over the impoundment at once.  And a flock of about 20 shoveler ducks were in one of the leads of water.
     Sometimes when I visit Middle Creek in winter, I see several common merganser ducks, many of which dive for small fish.  And sometimes I notice a few gadwall ducks, ring-billed gulls or double-crested cormorants in the air or on the water.  All these water birds add to the interest of Middle Creek in winter.  But it's the stately tundra swans, majestic Canada geese and hardy black ducks that I really go to see at that wildlife area in winter.  Those waterfowl are beautiful and inspiring to experience.