Spring is Here !!

     Spring in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania comes sooner than our calendar indicates.  To me, spring, in spite of temporary weather conditions, is here by the middle of February and there are several signs of its arrival.  By mid-February into March, mourning doves coo, and permanent resident tufted titmice, northern cardinals and song sparrows sing.  Male American woodcocks engage in their evening courtship displays and wood chucks and eastern chipmunks are visible above ground.  Snow drops, winter aconites and pussy willows are blooming and, unfortunately, a few each of striped skunks, opossums, cottontail rabbits and other medium-sized mammals are killed on streets and roads.  Most of those mammals probably were males looking for mates in unfamiliar terrain.
     And there are several other, more obvious, symbols of the vernal season's arrival in the latter half of February into early March- the great migrations of waterfowl (geese, swans and ducks), a variety of blackbirds, ring-billed gulls and American robins.
     Snow geese are the single most spectacular migrant species in this county with 65,000 to 150,000 birds strong, most of which rest on the human-made impoundment at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area like a covering of snow.  Snow geese rest, feed and travel in great masses, creating breath-taking shows that many people enjoy.  But these magnificent snow geese movements are unpredictable, especially in their landing on feeding fields.  So many snows land in a harvested corn field to eat corn kernels or in a winter rye field to consume the green shoots of rye that they exhaust that food within hours and have to fly to another field, and then another.  And because farmers rotate crops, snow geese land in different fields from one year to the next.
     Snow geese often take flight from the ground or water in one tremendous mass that shuts out background scenery, as would a blizzard.  One end of a horde of snows takes flight and the rest follow in sequence like a sheet being lifted from a bed until all are in the air, with an uproar of excited honking and beating wings, without a single collision and causing unforgettable sights.
Snow geese are really something to experience early each spring.
     As many as 8,000 migrant tundra swans stop at Middle Creek's lake in February into early March.  They rest on the main impoundment, but apart from the snow geese, and feed on waste corn kernels and winter rye shoots in nearby fields.  The elegant swans gather in much smaller groups than the snow geese, but the stately swans are just as inspiring to experience.  Small groups of swans take off from water or field, flock after beautiful flock, and follow each other through the air to either field or water.  Sometime in March, depending on the weather, snow geese and tundra swans continue their migrations north, little by little, through Canada and arrive on the Arctic tundra to nest by mid-May.
     Thousands of Canada geese winter on various creeks and impoundments here.  But sometime in March, when the weather warms, thousands of these geese leave the Chesapeake Bay Area and for a few hours pour over Lancaster County, flock after noisy flock, on their way north to raise young in Canada.  The overwhelming passage of the majestic Canadas, flock after swiftly-moving, noisy flock, are exciting to experience.  And usually, at the same time, snow geese and tundra swans start north as well, often exiting this area overnight.
     Meanwhile, several kinds of ducks migrate through Lancaster County on their way north or west to rear offspring.  The most notable kinds of ducks are northern pintails, American wigeons, ring-necked ducks and wood ducks.  Pintails engage in swift courtship flights when on migration.  A single hen is pursued by a few drakes.  And the male that keeps up with her will be her mate.  American wigeons graze on grass as do Canada and snow geese.  Little groups of ring-necks dive under the water of ponds to consume aquatic vegetation.  And some of the wood ducks nest here.  One can see pairs of lithe woodies inspecting unused tree hollows and wood duck nest boxes along creeks and ponds for suitable nurseries.
     Late in February and through much of March, great mixed rivers of thousands of purple grackles, red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds and starlings pour into Lancaster County.  Those hordes of various blackbird species flood into fields, meadows and lawns to search for invertebrates.  But like snow geese, these tremendous flocks of blackbirds are forever on the move from field to pasture in their search for food.  And like snow geese, blackbirds block out the background scenery with their tremendous numbers, but with black, not white.  One can see the lovely purple sheen on the grackles and the striking red "coals" on the shoulders of the red-wings as their overwhelming swarms fly from banquet to banquet.  But within a week or two, those blackbird hordes scatter to nesting sites; the grackles among coniferous trees and the red-wings in cattail marshes.
     Flocks of migrant, soaring ring-billed gulls drop to fields, mostly plowed ones, to feed on earthworms and other kinds of invertebrates.  Horses or tractors pulling plows are a dinner bell to ring-bills, many of which land in furrows right behind the plows to get food.               
     And gatherings of American robins suddenly show up on lawns, pastures and fields where there had not been robins all winter, exciting many people ready for spring.  These robins are migrants from farther south and they stop to feed on earthworms and other invertebrates before continuing their flights north.  Each robin quietly runs and stops, runs and stops, while watching for food, entertaining many of the people who see them. 
     Many people think robins are a sign of spring, and the migrants are.  But migrating geese, swans, ducks, blackbirds and ring-bills are as well.  Get out to see these migrants to get a spring tonic, if not this year, hopefully next year, or the next.