Mill Creek Early in Spring

     One late afternoon in February in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania farmland, I visited a favorite, slow-moving part of Mill Creek to see what creatures were visible.  Snow drifted across the land and the water rippled in the wind, making a wild and beautiful scene.  A score of black ducks, several common mergansers and a few dozen Canada geese bobbed on the water's surface, while small groups of Canadas, one after another, descended into the wind and landed on the creek.
     This section of Mill Creek has long been dammed, creating a lean, quarter-mile long "pond" with a very slow current.  A thin, battered riparian woods with soggy ground, tall reed canary-grass, shrubs and skunk cabbage borders one shore of the creek while short-grass cow pastures edges the other.  This diversity of habitat creates an oasis for adaptable wildlife in an area devoted entirely to the benefit of people.
     Gatherings of resident Canada geese and mallard ducks are along this part of Mill Creek through winter, as long as the water is ice-free.  And several each of migrant black ducks and common mergansers join the geese and mallards during February and March.  The Canadas, mallards and black ducks leave the creek twice daily to feed on waste corn kernels in harvested fields and grass in the meadows.  The mergansers dive under water from the surface to snare small fish.  Drake mergansers are striking, being black on top and white on their flanks, with green heads and red beaks.  Hen mergansers are gray with brown heads, which camouflages them.
     Other kinds of waterfowl rest on this part of Mill Creek early in March every year, including occasional flocks of snow geese, and little groups of American wigeons and green-winged teal.  All these birds feed in nearby fields with the Canada geese, mallards and black ducks.
     I remember stopping by this part of Mill Creek one afternoon early in March to see what critters were visible.  The creek was swollen and the bordering pasture was soggy and filled with puddles from rain and snow melt.  The shoreline strip of trees and tall grass were gray and beige respectively, adding to the beauty of the setting.  Common and hooded mergansers were diving for fish, while several black ducks and mallards, 20 green-winged teal, a few wigeons, a pair of northern pintail ducks and a dozen Canada geese flew to the nearby flooded pasture to shovel up vegetation.  All those species of waterfowl made a lovely, intriguing scene that filled me with joy.
     Early in March every year several pairs of wood ducks and a few pairs of hooded mergansers arrive on this stretch of Mill Creek from farther south.  The mergansers soon move on, but some of the woody pairs stay and look for tree cavities and nest boxes they can use to hatch ducklings.  One can see the lithe wood duck pairs perched comfortably high in the trees as the hens look for hollows.
     A few other kinds of birds live along Mill Creek early in spring.  Permanent resident song sparrows eat seeds and invertebrates in thickets along the shores of the creek.  One can hear the males singing their lively, territorial songs.
     One or two each of great blue herons and belted kingfishers catch fish here, but in different ways.  The herons wade in the shallows of the creek while the kingfishers either perch on a limb hanging over the water or hover into the wind to watch for fish.  Kingfishers dive bill-first into the water to seize their finny victims. Both bird species grab their prey with their long beaks.
     A pair of bald eagles nests downstream a couple of miles.  One of them sometimes perches in a big tree in this part of Mill Creek to catch larger fish from the creek.
     A few pairs of red-winged blackbirds nest in the reed canary-grass and shrubbery along this part of Mill Creek every year.  Males perch on bushes and tall grass to sing to establish territory, attract a mate and repel other male red-wings.  A little later, female red-wings construct grassy nests in the vegetation described.      
     A few black-crowned night herons perch in the trees by day and fish along the creek at night.  Several each of killdeer plovers and American robins move over the soaked meadow to catch and eat earthworms and other invertebrates coming out of the ground to avoid drowning.
     Raccoons and muskrats live permanently along Mill Creek and are nocturnal.  The coons hole up by day in tree hollows and abandoned wood chuck holes in the ground, while muskrats dig their own burrows in stream banks, beginning at the normal water level and slanting up to near the grass roots level.  Coons are predatory, while muskrats eat many kinds of available vegetation.
     This stretch of Mill Creek and its banks, like most waterways in this area, are a wildlife oasis for adaptable wildlife.  And this particular oasis is most interesting to me during February and March.