natureswondersbyclyde

     Flocks of north-bound purple grackles and red-winged blackbirds flow into southeastern Pennsylvania during March each year.  Those noisy gatherings of related blackbird species, whether in groups of their own, or in mixed congregations, land on fields, meadows and fields to feed on invertebrates, grain, seeds and everything else that's edible.  And their pretty, interesting flocks move from place to place, as food runs out in each spot.      Interestingly, both these lovely kinds of blackbirds also do much foraging on the shores of waterways and ponds.  One can see them flipping leaves and pebbles over to catch the invertebrates that might have been sheltering underneath.  And these blackbirds also poke through piles of twigs or grass heaped on the shores by higher than usual water.           Both blackbird species are attractive.  Grackles have a purple and green sheen on their black feathers.  Males are more glossy and a little larger than their mates.  Male red-wings have b

     Through a live camera and our home computer screen, I saw that Lake Onalaska, a large, shallow lake off the Mississippi River in northwest Wisconsin was frozen, wall to wall, through January and February of 2022.  Then I mostly saw scavenging and predatory coyotes and bald eagles on the lake.        But on March 14, I noticed leads of open water in the ice, and many birds of several kinds on or around, that water.  Those birds seemed to have arrived overnight, and some of them probably did.  They arrived as the ice melted because now they could find food in the water, and/or rest on it in relative safety.             Lake Onalaska has many wooded and tall-grass islands, mud flats, shallow channels and broad expanses of water that attract several species of migrating, water-loving birds in spring.  The lake, and the adjoining Mississippi, are rimmed by steep, wooded hills.  The whole area is picturesque, much the way Indians of long ago saw it.       I daily watched Onalaska open q

      Spring is born from the chilly womb of winter, and the sunsets of March reflect that in southeastern Pennsylvania, as elsewhere.  The red, orange and yellow sunsets of March still have some of the crispness of winter ones, but now they also seem a bit "softer", more like summer sunsets, perhaps because of increased warmth and humidity in March.  And sunsets in March are still quite visible because of the lack of foliage on deciduous trees.      Sunsets in March are times of quiet, peaceful beauties, as they are through the year.  They beautify the sky at dusk, make the landscape ruddy and are reflected attractively in still water, which doubles their appeal to viewers.      Lone trees in fields and on lawns, woodlands and birds in flight are major parts of the beauties and intrigues of sunsets, including in March.  One can see every delicate twig, on every lone tree, silhouetted black before sunsets.  The needled limbs of coniferous trees look like broad, black brush st

     While watching wintering birds at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on Maryland's Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, through the refuge's live camera and our computer screen, from January to early March, I was impressed with three things.  One is that Blackwater, situated along the middle of the bay, represents the vast, somewhat inaccessible, marshes of the Eastern Shore.  The lovely scenery of the refuge is enhanced by beautiful winter sunsets.  And the larger birds visible on the computer screen are icons of the Chesapeake.       Blackwater Refuge has several brackish rivers and channels.  And it is much vegetated by pretty loblolly pine woods, and large, lovely marshes of phragmites and tall grasses, the latter two species being amber in winter.        The marshes are particularly attractive in winter sunlight.  The phragmites swaying in unison in strong wind appear to be trying to tug out of the damp soil they are rooted in.  And the soft and fluffy-looking seed p