natureswondersbyclyde

      I enjoyed watching the loose flocks of tundra swans and Canada geese on the main lake of Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania during the late afternoon of January 28, 2021.  The swans were constantly "woo-hooing" and the geese were honking continually.  Both those wildlife sounds are pleasant to hear.        It was a clear afternoon that day, with not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky.  The sunset was lovely, but the temperature was in the low thirties, with a strong wind, making an unpleasant chill factor.  But the stately swans and geese, seemingly, were not bothered at all by the weather as they bobbed on wind-driven waves.  Ducks, geese and swans all have layers of feathers that shed cold, wind and weather quite well.      While watching the flocks of vocalizing swans and Canadas that were bathed in the sunset, I saw the full moon rise above the horizon about 5:20...

     Some winters over the years, flocks of pine siskins and common redpolls have invaded Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  I've seen both kinds of these small, winter finches in Neffsville where I used to live, and in a few other, local places.  The siskins were eating seeds out of tiny cones in a row of eastern hemlock trees, some of them hanging up-side-down on the cones to do so.  Another time in another winter, I saw several redpolls clinging to the brown, pocked balls of a sweet gum tree in our yard to eat the teeny seeds in those balls.  And they ingested seeds from sweet gum balls that fell to the ground.        Pine siskins and common redpolls are attractive, related finches that come south, irregularly, to the northern United States for the winter.  They generally do so when supplies of seeds are low in Canada and Alaska, where these birds raise young.        Each of these handsome, northe...

      Most of the time deciduous woods in southeastern Pennsylvania, in winter, are quiet and seemingly with little life.  But there are many small creatures, including dormant invertebrates and amphibians and reptiles, active mice and shrews, and small, wintering birds in those leafless, gray woods.  Those attractive birds liven winter woods.          Those little birds, which are camouflaged and difficult to spot in winter woods, including Carolina chickadees, tufted titmice, golden-crowned kinglets, two kinds of nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, brown creepers, Carolina wrens and winter wrens, are not scattered randomly in the woods.  Each interesting species is tied to its own level, though there is overlap of layers among the birds.  That spreading of those lovely, little birds into different strata in the woods reduces competition for invertebrate food among them.         Permanent resident and ...

     During winter in years past, I enjoyed seeing and hearing, in person, big flocks of stately Canada geese, elegant tundra swans, overwhelming snow geese and several kinds of handsome ducks in wildlife refuges in New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.  But during November, December and into January of 2020 and 2021, I watched flocks of those same kinds of waterfowl through Blackwater Wildlife Refuge's live camera in Maryland, and our computer screen at home.        Expecting big congregations of geese, swans and ducks by mid-November, Blackwater staff flooded two retention basins a few inches deep.  Those basins were dry all summer, which allowed the growth of grasses and other plants that produced seeds by autumn.  That vegetation was still standing in the basins when the water flowed into them.  A little later, some Canada geese, tundra swans and a small variety of ducks landed on the shallow water of those retention basins, w...

      During winter, several kinds of trees and shrubs have unique features that enhance their beauties, and that of the floodplains along many creeks in southeastern Pennsylvania.  All these lovely, woody plants are without foliage in winter, which allows us to easily see their other attractive characteristics along local waterways.  The unique traits of these flood-tolerant species also help us identify them.      Sycamore trees have mottled bark that can be seen from a distance, indicating the presence of those trees, and the waterways they develop along.  The patch work appearance of sycamore bark is because of the darker, outer bark falling away in little pieces, which reveals the lighter, inner bark.      Sycamores also bear decorative seed balls on long stems.  Those petulant balls help make sycamores attractive when they swing in the wind.         Maturing shag-bark hickory trees have bark ...