FARMLAND STREAM BIRDS

     In the last couple of weeks, I have seen several kinds of interesting birds along running streams in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania farmland.  Overgrown stream banks of tall weeds and grasses, and sapling trees threading through constantly cultivated croplands are oases of shelter from the hazards of plowing, discing and harvesting for a variety of wildlife species.  And those same oases provide natural food for wildlife.
     The first waterway in local farmland I visited is bordered by tall grass and scattered sapling trees on both banks.  And there I saw a handsome pair each of mallard ducks and wood ducks swimming in a slower stretch of water.  The mallard hen will hatch several ducklings in a grass nest on the ground under sheltering tall grass on a stream bank.  The female woody will hatch ducklings in one of two nest boxes erected along this stream for wood ducks to nest in.  Some wood duck pairs are adapting to raising ducklings in farmland because of duck boxes being erected for them.  And the ducklings of both kinds will mostly feed on aquatic invertebrates.
     I also saw a permanent resident, well-camouflaged song sparrow and a striking male red-winged blackbird among the stream side tall grasses.  The blackbird repeatedly sang his "kon-ga-ree" song. Both species will nest among those grasses, the song sparrows in a grass cradle on the ground and the red-wings by attaching their grass nursery to several grass stems above the soil.  Both these pretty species will feed invertebrates they catch among the grasses to their young.
     I saw two migrating birds eating invertebrates along the water's edge of this little waterway.  One was a lesser yellowlegs, which is a kind of sandpiper, and the other was a sparrow-sized, camouflaged water pipit.  Both species will rear offspring in Canada, the yellowlegs by a lake in Canada's forests and the pipit on that country's arctic tundra. 
     About a week later I stopped along another stream in Lancaster County cropland.  Several handsome American robins were running and stopping, running and stopping over short grass in a meadow bordering this waterway.  They were watching for earthworms and other kinds of invertebrates to ingest.  Those robins probably will nest in young trees along an edge of that pasture and in trees on nearby lawns.
      Several each of purple grackles and starlings, and a few red-winged blackbirds, walked about the short-grass pasture in search of invertebrates.  The grackles will raise young in a nearby grove of spruce trees while the starlings probably will hatch babies in close by tree hollows and barn crevices.  The red-wings, however, will anchor their grassy cradles to cattail stalks when they grow taller.
     I also saw a few lesser yellowlegs and a couple of least sandpipers on narrow mud flats along the little waterway.  Those sandpipers were fattening up on invertebrates they pulled from the mud before continuing their migrations farther north to raise youngsters.
     But it was the cute, fluffy, camouflaged brood each of Canada geese, mallard ducks and killdeer plovers that were the delight of the day in that pasture.  The pair of geese led their goslings out of the stream so the parents and young alike could graze on tender grasses.  The lively ducklings and their mother stayed in a slow part of the stream to consume invertebrates.  And the killdeer chicks, unchaperoned by their parents, walked over soggy parts of the pasture to catch and ingest invertebrates.  Obviously, there was little or no competition among these birds for food, a reason they were all in the meadow together.
     All the birds along those two waterways were lovely, intriguing and inspiring to experience.  Nature is all of the above, and a gift from God.