Birds on Bare Fields

     One morning late in April of this year I was driving through Lancaster County, Pennsylvania cropland and spotted about 20 barn swallows cruising fast and low over a bare ground field to catch flying insects and several American robins running and stopping, running and stopping as they searched for earthworms and other kinds of invertebrates in the soil.  I have seen birds on bare fields before over the years, but not so many swallows and robins at once in one field.  I stopped to see what other species of birds were on that bare ground field.  I saw several starlings and a few purple grackles.  My nature snooping appetite was then whetted to see what other species of birds were on fields of bare soil that morning.
     Much of Lancaster County's soil is devoted to growing various crops, so there are thousands of acres of plowed and disced fields in April into May.  Those fields are prepared to sow field corn, cigar tobacco and soybeans.  And while devoid of plant life, they attract several kinds of birds that ingest invertebrates, or seeds and tiny bits of stone to help grind the seeds in the birds' stomachs.
     That morning near the end of April, I saw loose flocks of robins, starlings, purple grackles, brown-headed cowbirds, red-winged blackbirds, American crows, house sparrows, purple martins,rock pigeons and mourning doves on several "barren" fields in Lancaster County farmland.  All these adaptable and common birds nest in local agricultural areas, some of them, such as robins, crows, grackles and doves in trees, and others, including starlings, house sparrows and pigeons, all originally from Europe, in sheltering places in buildings.  All these birds eat invertebrates, except the seed-eating pigeons and doves.
     Starlings, house sparrows, pigeons and some of the robins and doves are permanent residents in this county, but the grackles, red-wings and crows migrate into this area early in spring.  That same day late in April, I also saw many migrant American pipits, some horned larks, several killdeer plovers, and one small group of black-bellied plovers.  Pipits and black-bellies pass through here on their way north to the Arctic tundra to nest, the pipits in big flocks and the plovers in small ones.
      Some of the larks and killdeer migrate farther north to nest.  But other individuals of their respective tribes raise young here on the bare ground of Lancaster County farmland, and throughout much of the Lower 48 States.
     Pipits, larks, black-bellies and killdeer are pre-adapted to open, sparsely-vegetated land, such as in parts of the tundra in the case of the pipits, larks and black-bellies, and bare-ground fields in the Lower 48 in regard to the larks and killdeer.  The larks dig a little teacup-sized hole in the soil for their eggs, but the killdeer lay their four spotted eggs per clutch right on top of the bare ground.  Some lark and killdeer nests in farmland are destroyed by cultivating machinery, but those birds often try again to nest.
      Pipits, larks, the two kinds of plovers, and robins, doves and house sparrows, being mostly brown on top, are camouflaged on bare soil, making them hard to see and safer from predators.  We seldom spot these birds on denuded land until they fly or are noted by binoculars.
     Barn swallows and purple martins arrive here in April and cruise swiftly over all fields to snap up flying insects.  They make interesting, entertaining shows of themselves.
     When walking or driving in farmland, watch for birds among the fields, including bare-soil ones.  It's amazing how adaptable some birds are in getting food and raising offspring.