Wintering Farmland Birds

     On February 5, 2016, I drove through a bit of farmland around New Holland, Pennsylvania for an hour and a half to see what birds were around.  The sky was partly cloudy with scattered white and pale-gray cumulus clouds and the ground was mostly green from fields of winter rye, with patches of snow, making the day lovely with beautiful scenery.
     The first birds I saw was a collection of about 20 turkey vultures and a few black vultures swirling together low in the sky over a field.  Black vultures fly differently than turkey vultures, with intermittent periods of sailing and rapid wing beats rather than the turkey vultures' constant soaring with few slow wing beats.  A long chicken house was under that circling group of vultures and I thought there were dead chickens lying in the field that attracted all those avian scavengers.  But since there was no way to get closer to that chicken house, or the vultures, I couldn't know for sure by personal observation.
     Moving on, I saw a few other turkey vultures circling and descending gracefully to a harvested corn field with manure spread on it.  I stopped at that field to observe what the vultures, and the few American crows that were with them, were eating.  About 14 vultures, and the crows, were eating bits of chicken bodies that were dumped in the field to decompose with the manure to enrich the soil.  That food is gross to us, but it was easy, nutritious pickings for the vultures and crows.
     As I continued to drive along, I saw many rock pigeons crowded on top of some silos, which seem to be their favorite resting places between feeding forays.  And I spotted an occasional flock of pigeons powering swiftly through the air, or walking about in a corn field to consume corn kernels.  These pigeons are truly wild, though they raise young in barns and feed in fields.  Both those niches are human-made to serve people needs, but the pigeons long ago adapted to them.
     Along one rural road, I saw a falcon flying low over a field.  Not knowing if it was a merlin or an American kestrel, I stropped to check it with binoculars.  It was a female kestrel carrying a mouse in her talons.  She landed on the ground to consume her catch.
     Not far from the dining kestrel, I saw a pair of red-tailed hawks perched together in a lone tree in a field.  This is red-tails' breeding season and that pair probably had a nest in a tree somewhere near by.  I knew they were a mated pair because one hawk was slightly bigger than the other.  With all hawks, eagles and owls, females are a bit bigger than their mates.   
     In a partly flooded cow pasture off another country road, I saw many larger birds.  Checking those birds with binoculars, I estimated over 200 Canada geese and about 100 mallard ducks.  And I counted two pairs of American wigeon ducks and one drake northern pintail duck.  All those waterfowl were eating green vegetation and seeds from the pools in the meadow.  A day of steady rain a couple of days ago and melting snow made that pasture a marsh of short grass and other plants that attracted the waterfowl to it.    
     Anyone with an interest to do so can do the same as I did in their own area.  Just get out in nature to experience some of its beauties and intrigues.