Snipe, Red-wings and Swallows are Back

     For a few hours on the afternoon of March 29 of this year, I drove to a few soggy, short-grass meadows in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania farmland to experience whatever was happening in nature.  Individuals and groups of American robins and purple grackles were on lawns, pastures and fields, here and there, all along the way.  Those abundant, well-known birds were looking for invertebrates in the soil of those human-made habitats.  
     From one short-grass meadow near the Conestoga River, I was thrilled to see thousands of grackles in one great flock drifting down and settling like black snow on a harvested corn field, turning part of it black.  There the grackles ingested corn kernels missed by automatic harvesters the autumn before, then moved to other parts of the field.  Once that horde of grackles landed in a few large, bare trees near the field, turning them black with "feathered" foliage.    
     In that same short-grass pasture, I saw a few  kinds of critters in and around a dug-out, shallow-water pool, about the size of a small house, where people ice skated.  That puddle hosted a handsome pair of feeding mallard ducks, a sleek muskrat gathering grass on the shoreline and a pair of lovely eastern bluebirds perched on dead weed stalks.  And I was happy to see about six striking male red-winged blackbirds perched on dead weeds to sing their "kon-ga-ree" songs to establish nesting territories and attract mates, and approximately 12 beautifully-camouflaged Wilson's snipe that poked their long beaks in mud under shallow water to pull out and ingest invertebrates.  The beautiful red-wings and snipe were recently arrived from locations farther south where they spent the winter. 
     All these creatures, except the snipe, will stay in that area to raise young.  The snipe will migrate farther north to rear offspring.  They stopped in that wet meadow, as they will in others, to fuel up on invertebrates before continuing their journey.
     In another pasture I visited, I saw a pair of feeding mallards, a pair of bluebirds eating invertebrates they caught in the short-grass, a few singing male red-wings perched on fence posts, six snipe, mostly hidden in the short grass near a shallow puddle, and a small group of sharp-looking tree swallows skimming low over the meadow after flying insects to eat.  The recently arrived swallows will stay here to nest in tree cavities and nest boxes in open, sunny habitats, mostly near waterways and impoundments where flying insects are plentiful.
     I was not surprised to see any of these birds, locally, at this time of year.  They are all common here each spring.  But I felt good seeing them again because of their beauties and intriguing habits in the local, human-made habitats of meadows, fields and lawns where they get food and most of them hatch youngsters.
    Fortunately for us, these common species of birds, and others, have adapted to built habitats to raise young.  They are a joy to experience during spring and summer in heavily developed Lancaster County, as elsewhere.