natureswondersbyclyde

      With a casual glance, short-grass pastures in winter in Lancaster County, as elsewhere, seem barren of bird life, except for an occasional small flock of mallard ducks, here and there, on them.  But with closer looks with binoculars, I can spot one, or a few each of killdeer plovers, Wilson's snipe, song sparrows and water pipits. all of which are camouflaged along certain running brooks of clear, shallow water.  There those birds spend winter days searching for invertebrates in, or along, the edges of those little waterways in meadows, which are human-made habitats.           Most short-grass pastures, used for grazing livestock, have little shelter in the form of shrubbery.  But all these birds, except the song sparrows, are adapted to open habitats with minimal cover to avoid cold winds and predators.  And song sparrows are adaptable, making do with whatever shelter is available.        Al...

      In winter, Barnegat Bay, a saltwater channel between New Jersey mainland and one of its barrier islands along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline, a little cove off Chesapeake Bay by Kent Island, Maryland, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge off The Chesapeake in Maryland and Middle Creek's 400-acre lake in southeastern Pennsylvania are large, natural habitats that harbor inspiring masses of handsome, wintering swans, geese and ducks.        In winter, years ago, I visited those beautiful wildlife places in person, but now I see impressive hordes of tundra swans, Canada geese, Atlantic brant geese, snow geese, pintail ducks, shoveler ducks and American wigeon ducks through a live camera at each location and our home computer screen.  Either way, I now know, is as good as the other, each in its own way.  Readers, too, can visit in person or bring those places up on computer screens.        Great flocks of those kin...

      Mourning doves, house sparrows, house finches, Carolina wrens, northern cardinals and blue jays are my favorite feathered suburbanite neighbors in our typically suburban New Holland, Pennsylvania neighborhood of trees, shrubbery and grass.  These birds are permanent residents here, and nest here; they are enjoyable neighbors to have.  I've seen the young of  these species on our lawn.  All these common bird species are attractive, and have interesting songs.  These species come to feeders through each year.        Brown and dark-spotted mourning doves nest in our neighborhood from early March to early September, attempting to rear a clutch of two young per month.  But wind and predators eliminate some of the chicks before they are able to fledge their coniferous tree bough nurseries.  All summer, pairs of doves coo gently to each other, all day and every day, and raise two staggered broods of young at once,...

      Most folks in the eastern United States are familiar with the handsome American robins and eastern bluebirds, and some parts of their life histories.  Those species of birds are in the thrush family, and have counterpart thrush relatives, namely varied thrushes and mountain bluebirds that do the same jobs as American robins and eastern bluebirds, but in the higher altitudes of western North America.       Though related, and nesting in the upper altitudes of western North America, the attractive varied thrushes and mountain bluebirds don't compete with each other for food and nesting sites.  The former species raises young in open, mud and grass cradles on tree limbs in the dense, dark understories of moist, mixed coniferous/deciduous forests, while the bluebirds rear offspring in abandoned tree cavities and erected bird houses in mountain meadows.  Their American robin and eastern bluebird counterparts nest the same ways, except r...

      Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are a kind of North American woodpecker that nest in mixed coniferous/deciduous woodlands in the northern tier states of the United States and across Canada.  And they winter in the southern United States, north to the Middle Atlantic States, including here in southeastern Pennsylvania.        These sapsuckers are typical woodpeckers.  They raise young in tree cavities they chip from dead wood.  They have stiff tail feathers and two toes in front and two in back of each foot to brace themselves upright on vertical tree trunks while they drill into dead wood after invertebrates to eat.  And like all woodpeckers, they have long, sticky tongues they insert into the holes they chisel into wood to pull out invertebrates they consume.  Small birds like chickadees, kinglets and wrens can also reach into those wounds the sapsuckers created to pull out invertebrates to ingest.     ...

      Every winter I watch waterfowl on various impoundments in the United States, through a live camera at each location and our computer screen.  I used too watch ducks, geese and swans "in the flesh" when I was younger, but today I get as much fun seeing those birds on our computer screen.  For example, just two weeks ago, on December 4th and 5th, 2025, I saw waterfowl thriving in winter's beauties on a couple of lakes quite distant from each other.        On December 4, I saw in the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania newspaper that the moon would "rise" over this area about 5:00 pm, which would be soon after sunset on that sunny day.  I knew from past experience that I could see, on our computer screen, the moon rising above a 400-qcre lake at MIddle Creek Wildlife Management Area that straddles both Lancaster and Lebanon Counties.  And I knew that ducks, Canada geese and tundra swans rested on that lake between feeding forays ...