Wintering Brant and Black Ducks

     In mid-November of this year, I got a live camera on Long Beach Island, New Jersey on our computer to see if I could spot Atlantic brant geese and black ducks in Atlantic Coast salt marshes.  I was thrilled to see a small flock each of brant and black ducks in the same view at the same time on the shallow water of a backwater off the ocean, where that water borders a salt marsh.  And there were other brant farther out on the backwater at that same time.  Other species of wildlife winter in coastal salt marshes in the eastern United States, but, to me, Atlantic brant and black ducks are icons, the spirits, of that habitat in winter.  They are exciting and inspiring to experience in winter salt marshes.
     I've seen both these species of waterfowl, in the feathers, wintering in Atlantic Coast salt marshes in the past, but I haven't been to a salt marsh in winter in years.  Furthermore, It's easier to see some kinds of wildlife by these live cameras than to try to see them in the wild.  Most wild creatures shy away from the human figure.    
     Brant and black ducks have much in common, though each is from a different genus of waterfowl.  They raise young in different habitats, but many individuals of each kind winter in the same salt marshes along the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to North Carolina.  
     The elegant brants and handsome blacks have dark feathering that makes them stand out beautifully in the beige salt grass of winter.  Both types of birds often live, feed and fly in highly visible flocks.  Brant and black ducks are also easily noticed in open water on the edges of salt marsh back waters and channels.  They both appear black in the distance and against snow.  These species are about the same size because brant are a small type of goose and black ducks are robust ducks.  But brant have a typical goose shape with a long neck while blacks are built like typical ducks with shorter necks.  They are easy to identify from each other by shape alone.   
     Brant and blacks both ingest vegetation through winter.  Both of them "tip-up" in shallow water to dredge alga and other aquatic vegetation from the mud.  But brant also pluck grass and the green shoots of winter grains in fields while blacks also shovel up corn kernels in harvested fields.
     Being different species, brant and blacks have differences, too.  Brant run over water or ground to take flight, while black ducks simply leap into the air and fly away.  Brant fly in loose flocks and long lines, "shoulder to shoulder".  Brant honk hoarsely while female blacks quack loudly.  Brant raise goslings on the Arctic tundra, while black ducks rear offspring in eastern Canada and the United States.  Some female blacks hatch ducklings in Atlantic salt marshes in the United States.           
     Flocks of Atlantic brant and black ducks are striking species in Atlantic Coast salt marshes in winter.  I enjoy experiencing these handsome spirits of those winter habitats.

Mississippi Flyway in Fall

     The shallow channels, mud flats and beds of emergent grasses in Lake Analaska, which is bordered by steep, wooded hills and is located along the Mississippi River in northwestern Wisconsin, are habitats of wonderful mixes of southbound water birds, at least during October and November.  I "have been" to that lovely lake several times in those two months via a live camera and our home computer.  Watching the gatherings of large water birds on the lake, which is a backwater off the Mississippi, has been enjoyable and inspiring to me, just as viewing some of those same birds, in the flesh and feathers, along my home Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania.
     Not all the birds were along that lake in Wisconsin at once, and some didn't stay there long before pushing farther south for the winter.  American white pelicans, in their thousands, dominated this backwater off the Mississippi during a few weeks in October.  Big and bulky, pelicans plod stoically, but majestically, on mud flats and in the shallows.  Pelicans have boat-like bodies for floating on water, and long beaks and large lower mandible pouches for snaring fish from the water's surface.
     The pelicans in this species work together on the water's surface to snare fish.  Groups of them swim in a line, and daintily dip their beaks in the water at the same time to scoop up the confused and frantic fish.   
     American white pelicans fly strongly, and gracefully, in lines and V's.  They often flap in unison, then glide for several seconds before flapping together again.  When landing on the water, they ski to a stop on their broad, webbed feet.       
     During the latter part of October and into mid-November, flocks of noisy, southbound sandhill cranes settle on the flats and shallows of this backwater off the Mississippi.  They are tundra nesters heading for their wintering grounds in parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico.
     Stately sandhill cranes stand about four feet tall, have gray feathering all over, except a red spot on each bird's forehead.  They are elegantly long-necked and long-legged, and wade in shallow water after aquatic invertebrates and vegetation.  They also walk through harvested corn fields to pick up and ingest corn kernels on the ground.  And sometimes in autumn, these magnificent cranes engage in graceful courtship dances; pairs of them leaping and flapping as the partners face each other. 
     Each late afternoon for a few weeks, many sandhills converged on Lake Analaska for the night. But their flocks in fall are nowhere near the size of the northbound hordes of these cranes in March and April along the Platte River in Nebraska.
     Flocks of noisy Canada geese and tundra swans converge in numbers on Lake Analaska in November.  These species of large, elegant waterfowl rest on flats and in the shallows, but fly out, group after group, to harvested corn fields where they scoop up corn kernels on the ground.  These geese and swans are majestic on the wing when flying to and from corn fields and the bodies of water where they rest between feeding forays.  These two kinds of large birds also graze on short grass and green blades of winter rye.       
     In fall, a variety of puddle ducks, including loose flocks of mallards, pintails, American wigeons and gadwalls, "tip-up" among protective emergent grasses and extend their beaks down to water plants on the shallow bottoms of this lake along the Mississippi.  They use their beaks to tear loose that vegetation and bring it to the surface to swallow it and get a breath of air.  These puddlers also shovel up corn kernels in fields.  And wigeons graze on short grass, as do Canada geese.    
     Certain kinds of diving ducks, particularly thousands of buffleheads, and lesser numbers of common goldeneyes, ring-necked ducks and lesser scaup, dove into open, deeper waters to dredge up aquatic vegetation, invertebrates and small mollusks and crustaceans.  It was interesting to see mixed rafts of these diving ducks floating and bobbing on deeper water, while some individuals dove under and others popped to the surface to swallow and get a breath.
     Little gangs of ring-billed gulls, a common, inland kind of gull, fluttered lightly over the flats and shallows each late afternoon as those birds prepared to spend the night roosting on the flats.  They had spent each day searching for anything edible along the lake shores, the nearby Mississippi and on fields between those large bodies of water.  Ring-bills will also eat edible scraps from dumpsters and landfills.
     Up to 60 majestic bald eagles, of every age, formed groups of themselves on flats, large trees fallen into the shallows and standing trees in woods along the lake's shores.  These stately eagles catch fish from larger bodies of water, and scavenge dead animals, including fish washed up on shores.   
     These attractive and migrating water birds on Lake Analaska at the same time were exciting and inspiring to experience in the air, and on the water and mud flats.  There was much to see and hear at once, including flocks of large water birds flying before a sunset, or standing still and silhouetted in water and on the flats at dusk.  It was also neat to hear the birds calling, or splashing water as they fluttered their wings during bath times.      

Adaptable, Common Farmland Birds

     While recently driving in farmland to do errands around New Holland, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in mid-November, it again occurred to me that I was easily seeing the same flocks of wintering birds I always see in local cropland at this time of year.  For example, as I drove by a couple of crab apple trees in a hedgerow of sapling trees, bushes and tall weeds and grasses along a clear-water stream that day, I noticed flocks of American robins and starlings flying in and out of those crab apple trees.  I stopped for several minutes and watched those two kinds of bids eating some of the many yellow fruits clinging to those trees and lying on the ground under them.  And as I watched those birds ingesting crab apples, I thought about some of the other kinds of flock birds I repeatedly see wintering in Lancaster County.
     All these handsome and interesting bird species live in Lancaster County's farmland the year around, and raise young here.  All are adaptable, common in this area and large enough to be readily noticed.  And each kind has its daily habits, food sources and nightly roosts.
     Though unrelated, wintering robin and starling flocks are often seen together in cropland hedgerows where they consume a variety of berries from trees, shrubbery and vines.  And both species eat invertebrates from lawns, when they can, and roost in planted, wind-breaking coniferous trees on lawns during winter nights.  These two attractive species converge in winter because they have similar needs and body forms during that bitter season.
     I also regularly see flocks of related and petite mourning doves and rock pigeons eating waste corn kernels in harvested corn fields through winter.  Sometimes, both species flutter down, at the same time, on whistling wings, through snow falls, to the fields to feed.  Both species walk about, with heads bobbing at each step, among the stubble and light snow, to pick up kernels with their beaks, one kernel at a time.  The doves are more difficult to see because they have brown feathering, which blends them into the color of the corn stubble.
     When not feeding, however, the doves and pigeons retire to different roosts to rest, and digest the kernels they ingested.  The doves perch on roadside wires where they are easily seen, and in coniferous trees.  And the pigeons retire to the coned tops of farmland silos, the only local birds that do that.  However, doves spend winter nights in evergreen trees, while pigeons do the same in barns and under bridges.   
     Gatherings of wintering mallard ducks and majestic Canada geese congregate on farmland ponds and creeks.  Both these aquatic species eat much water vegetation, but also get food in nearby human-made, land habitats.  Both kinds consume grass on lawns, and shovel up corn kernels among the stubble of harvested corn fields, where they encounter doves and pigeons.  Like doves and pigeons, mallards and Canadas can be spotted dropping through snowfalls to acres of corn stubble to feed.  Sometimes, they have to shovel their bills under the snow to get their food.  When full, the mallards and geese wing back to their watery roosts on ponds and waterways.  The elegant geese always honk and bugle boisterously when flying in V shapes and long lines from place to place.     
     Though commonplace in Lancaster County cropland the year around, these types of adaptable, interesting birds are always welcome sights in farmland, at least to me.  They add daily life and intrigue to that human-made habitat these lovely birds adjusted to.     

Some Successional Trees

     Certain kinds of trees in eastern Pennsylvania, including staghorn sumacs, sassafras, red junipers, large-toothed aspens and gray birches, pioneer denuded land after burning, timbering, farming or mining and then abandoned.  All native to North America, these interesting, successional trees help hold down soil against erosion, benefit wildlife and have certain beauties the year around, while building up nutrients in the abused soil from their decaying fallen leaves, bark and wood over several years.  Eventually, successional trees will be replaced by more demanding ones that will permanently inhabit land that was degraded, but enriched by successional trees.
     Successional trees need much sunlight, which they get on denuded soil.  But these trees can't tolerate being shaded, so they gradually die out when shade-tolerant trees replace them and live permanently on what-had-been bare ground.      
     Sumac limbs are forked like antlers on buck deer.  This small tree has compound leaves, each leaf having several leaflets that turn red in autumn and flutter like banners in the wind, adding beauty to degraded landscapes.  Female sumacs grow cone-shaped clusters of red, fuzzy berries that help beautify abused landscapes.  Many of those striking berries are eaten by rodents and berry-eating birds, including starlings, American robins, cedar waxwings and other species. 
     Sassafras trees have three leaf shapes on each tree.  One leaf shape is a simple oval.  Another one is shaped like a mitten and the third has three chubby prongs, like a fork.  In fall, sassafras foliage turns to red, orange or yellow. 
     Sassafras trees also have deep-purple berries in autumn that are eaten by a variety of seed-eating birds, rodents, raccoons and other kinds of mammals.  The birds digest the pulp of the berries, but pass sassafras seeds in their droppings wherever they happen to perch.  Sassafras grows abundantly along rural roadsides because of birds perched on electric lines along those roads.  
     Spicebush swallowtail butterfly caterpillars consume the foliage of spicebushes and sassafras trees.  Each larvae spins webbing to wrap a leaf around itself so it can eat in relative safety.  These caterpillars are green to blend into the leaves' color if those leaves are opened by birds or other predators.  Furthermore, each larva has two black spots on its forward "back" that resemble eyes, which frighten away would-be predators.    
     Red junipers are a kind of conifer, with green needles on them the year around.  This pillar-shaped tree is mistakenly called red cedar, but it is in the juniper genus.
     Red junipers produce tiny, fleshy cones that are pale-blue.  Multitudes of those berry-like cones are decorative on the green junipers in winter.  And they are eaten by deer, rodents and berry-eating birds through fall and winter.  Cedar waxwings get their name, in part, from eating juniper cones.
     Saw-whet owls roost during winter days in red junipers.  And dark-eyed juncos, mourning doves and other kinds of birds roost overnight in them during winter.
     House finches, American goldfinches, chipping sparrows and field sparrows nest in junipers in summer.  Obviously, the attractive junipers are valuable to wildlife.  
     Large-toothed aspens have leaves that quiver noticeably in the wind, and have toothed margins.  That foliage turns yellow in autumn.  But aspens' long, hanging catkins, swaying in the spring wind, are the trees' most beautiful features. 
     Beavers commonly chew down these trees to eat their leaves, twigs and bark, and use the woody trunks and branches to build their dams and lodges.  Deer, hares and mice consume aspen buds, twigs and bark on still-standing trees in winter.  
     Gray birches are particularly noted for pioneering deserted strip mines and slag piles in coal regions in eastern Pennsylvania.  This birch has "dirty-white" bark and dark triangles below where the limbs emerge from the trunks.  And like aspens, this birch species has yellow foliage in fall, attractive catkins in spring, and buds, twigs and bark that are consumed by beavers, mice and deer.  Beavers also use birch branches and trunks to build dams and lodges.  And the tiny, winged seeds of birches are ingested by small, seed-eating birds through fall and winter.
     Look for these successional trees in successional landscapes any time of year.  They build up soil, feed and shelter wildlife and provide us with beauty where, otherwise, it may not be.

Distinctive, Decorative Bark

     At least six kinds of deciduous trees in southeastern Pennsylvania have distinctive, decorative bark that is most readily seen in winter when the trees are bare.  The bark of each tree helps identify it, and adds more beauty and intrigue to it, and the outdoors in winter.  The six are shag-bark hickories in bottomland woods, river birches and sycamores along streams and creeks, black locusts in fertile farmland, and sugar maples and American beeches on wooded slopes.
     Shagbark hickory bark peels off in long, vertical strips, with both ends of each one flared away from the trunk, but the middle still attached to it, giving hickories a shaggy appearance.  Older hickories appear rough and picturesque, which we can enjoy in bottomland woods.
     Brown creeper birds, mourning cloak butterflies, daddy long legs and other kinds of invertebrates shelter behind the partly dislodged planks of curled bark.  Gray squirrels chew into the hard husks and shells of hickory nuts to eat the meat inside.    
     As the wood and bark of hickories, and other kinds of trees, grow in circumference, the older, outer bark of each trunk and limb is forced loose and away.  The shedding of the outer bark makes room for new bark, and wood, growing underneath it.      
     The thin, pale-orange bark of river birch trees peels away in innumerable loose curls and strips, which makes the entire tree rustically attractive.  River birches are commonly planted on lawns because of the shaggy appearance of their limbs and trunks.
     In spring, long, hanging catkins, that cling to river birch twigs, produce pollen that is blown about in the wind.  Fertilized female flowers on these birches grow tiny, winged seeds that also blow away on the wind and are eaten by mice and a variety of seed-eating sparrows and finches in winter.
     White-tailed deer, cottontail rabbits and deer mice consume the twigs, buds and young bark of river birches in winter.  Beavers ingest birch bark, but use the trunks and branches to help build their dams and lodges.       
     Sycamore trees' older, barker bark drops off the trees in small, thin pieces, revealing patches of newer, lighter-hued bark that creates the mottled appearance on those trees.  Sycamores can grow massive along the waterways in the sunny meadows they call home.  I know of a few huge sycamores, close to home, that have cavities at ground level so large that up to a half dozen people could sit comfortably in them.  And this type of tree has seed balls that hang on long stems attached to the outer twigs of the trees.
     Black locust trees have thick, twisted-looking bark that resembles powerful, knotted muscles, giving these trees a rugged, rustic appearance.  And, in the middle of May, black locusts develop clusters of white flowers with a sweet fragrance that can be detected for some little distance across cropland fields.  Beans form in thin pods where the blossoms were.  This species of tree also has several cavities that make good homes for farmland screech owls and American kestrels.
     Sugar maple trees have several interesting traits, including strikingly beautiful orange foliage in autumn, two percent sugar in their sap that is boiled down to maple syrup and candy early in spring, and bark that flares out in long, firm ridges from trunks and larger branches.  Sugar maples are commonly planted on lawns because of their elegant shapes, colored leaves and maple syrup.      
     The handsome and stately American beech trees also have intriguing characteristics, including long, pointed leaf buds in winter, pale-yellow, curled leaves attached to twig moorings all winter and smooth, gray bark on trunks and branches.  One can see how common beeches are in certain woods by seeing those dead, curled leaves on their trees through winter when other deciduous trees are bare.  This is another species that grows to massive size.  And it is commonly planted on lawns.
     These are some of the deciduous trees that have distinctive and decorative bark in southeastern Pennsylvania.  The bark on these trees helps make time outdoors more interesting and enjoyable.    
               

Fall Forster's and Bonaparte's

     Several times during September and October some years ago, I stood on a rock outcropping above the lower Susquehanna River in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to see what birds were along the river at that time.  The river there is bordered on both sides by steep hills, all of them clothed in deciduous woods. 
     From that overlook over the river, I saw an occasional bald eagle, or a pair of them, soaring majestically over the river, or a great blue heron and ring-billed gulls in powerful flight.  And most every time I observed the river, with binoculars, from that vantage point, I saw little groups of Forster's terns, perhaps totaling up to 60 of them, winging swiftly up and down the river in their searches for small fish to catch and eat.  They were post-breeding birds that might have come up river daily from the nearby Chesapeake Bay.
     And, a few years later, from a dock near Perryville, Maryland, along the Upper Chesapeake Bay during an October evening, I observed about a dozen Forster's winging strongly and gracefully in circles about thirty feet above the water.  Each tern powered along on narrow, swept-back wings, then dove abruptly, beak-first, into the water after small fish.  All those fish-catching terns were entertaining and inspiring to see in action fairly close up.
     And, occasionally, during November, I see little groups of Bonaparte's gulls pumping low and gracefully, into the wind, over the water of the lower Susquehanna.  There they pick up small fish and other edible tidbits from the surface, or just below it.             
     Forster's terns and Bonaparte's gulls, though from different bird families, have characteristics in common.  They are about the same size, the Forster's being about fourteen and a half inches long, and the Bonnies being around thirteen inches in lenght.  Each of these species is a petite member of its family.  Both species fly buoyantly over the water, with their thin beaks pointed down, while watching for insect and tiny fish prey.  Both are entertaining and inspiring to watch in dainty flight, as they seek and procure food.  Both kinds are mostly light-gray on top, white below and have white tails.  And many individuals of both types migrate along rivers.                    
     Little groups of Forster's and Bonaparte's are along the lower Susquehanna each autumn, the terns mostly in September and October and the gulls mostly in October and November.  Both species slowly make their way farther south to spend the winter where water doesn't freeze, especially along coastal waters, so they can get food through winter. 
     Forster's terns live only in America.  They fly on quick, powerful wing beats and have a black patch of feathers around the eye and ear on each side of their heads during winter.  Each female lays a few eggs on a mat of grass in marshes along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, from Maryland to Texas.  And these attractive, little terns winter from South Carolina to the Gulf Coast.
     Bonaparte's gulls have an interesting bounding flight into the wind.  In winter, each Bonaparte's has a small, black patch of feathers behind each eye.  But a long, white stripe on each wing is the most distinctive feature on these gulls the year around.  Those white stripes appear like banners on flying Bonaparte's gulls.
     Bonaparte's build twig, grass and moss nurseries on coniferous tree limbs in marshes near lakes in the spruce-fir forests of Canada.  And they winter on the shores of the Great Lakes and along Atlantic shores from southern New England to Florida and the Gulf Coast.
     These beautiful species of petite water birds are intriguing to experience anytime of year.  I have seen them only in migration, but am thrilled with them every time I do.  They are lovely and entertaining.  

Shagbark Hickories and Black Walnuts

     Shagbark hickory trees and black walnut trees are a major part of fall in southeastern Pennsylvania farmland, but are not noticed by many people.  These trees traditionally inhabit bottomland woods, which have moist soil.  But both species, being adaptable, have been planted along rural roads and on lawns.  Black walnuts are particularly common on those human-made habitats because many people like to gather the nuts to put in cakes, ice cream and ice cream toppings.
     These hickory and walnut trees have much in common.  In summer the six-inch larvae of regal moths, called hickory horned devils, eat the foliage of both species.  Both kinds of trees are most evident in October, for different reasons.  Both have compound leaves, each leaf bearing several leaflets.  Both types produce nuts that have hard, green husks, that become dark.  Both have hard shells under those husks.  And many nuts of hickories and black walnuts litter the ground and country roads during September and October.
     However, hickories and walnuts have differences, too.  Local shagbarks mostly inhabit stream edges in farmland.  They have striking yellow-bronze foliage in October.  And the one and a half inch, green husks on their nuts have four sections that separate when those nuts fall to the ground.  The inner shell of each nut is off-white and smooth. 
     Black walnuts are abundant in local farmland, particularly along country roads.  Many of them were planted by people and squirrels, which promotes their abundance.  In October, black walnut trees are characterized by having few leaves on their twigs, but having many green, two-inch nuts still hanging decoratively on those twigs, as well as many nuts on the ground and roads under the trees.  The shells of their nuts are dark and grooved.
     Poison ivy and Virginia creeper vines crawl up shag barks and black walnuts, and other structures, to reach sunlight.  Poison ivy vines have red, orange and yellow foliage in September and October, while the leaves of the creepers are bright red at that same time.  Shag bark and walnut trees along country roads are particularly beautiful and enchanting to us because of the striking autumn foliage of those two types of vines hanging from their stout limbs and trunks.  
     Gray squirrels and other kinds of rodents are the only creatures in southeastern Pennsylvania that have jaws strong enough and teeth sharp enough to chisel into the husks and shells of these nuts.  After much gnawing, the rodents consume the nutrition-packed "meat" inside the shells.
     Gray squirrels bury many black walnuts and hickory nuts a couple inches in the ground to be eaten in winter when food is scarce.  But if some squirrels forget where they buried some nuts, or are preyed on by red-tailed hawks, great horned owls or other predators, some of the nuts they planted have a chance to sprout into young trees.  Over the years, I've pulled many black walnut seedlings from our lawn and garden at home.   
     Other kinds of wildlife, including foxes, opossums, blue jays, American crows, northern cardinals and a small variety of seed-eating birds, have opportunities to ingest the meat of black walnuts and hickory nuts.  Many of those nuts are crushed by passing vehicles on roads and streets, releasing the meat onto the blacktop.  But these forms of wildlife must get off the roads ahead of traffic.
     Shagbark hickory and black walnut trees are characteristic of October in local cropland.  They are picturesque to us, and their nuts are valuable to certain kinds of wildlife through fall and winter.