natureswondersbyclyde

     For an hour in the middle of June of this year, I visited a four-acre retention basin, surrounded by a ten-acre lawn, to see what wildlife species was using that basin.  This four year old, human-made basin of shallow water in Lancaster County is abundantly pocked with dense stands of cattails, reeds and reed canary-grass, all of which are tall and shelter and feed the adaptable wildlife in that basin.       Red-winged blackbirds dominated that basin with their numbers, activities and voices.  They were there to nest among the high cattails and grasses.  Several striking male red-wings, with their black feathering and red shoulder patches, repeatedly sang "kon-ga-reeeee" from the wind-swayed vegetation.  Those beautiful males also chased each other, and some of the females, around the basin, creating much interesting activity, and, again, showing off those lovely, scarlet shoulder epaulets.               In May, the lovely female red-wings built cradles of cattails and g

     Six kinds of flycatchers, which is a family of small birds, nest in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Being related, all flycatchers snare flying insects in mid-air and flutter back to a perch to ingest their victims and watch for more.        This family of birds, like all families of life, diverged into different species from a common ancestor to take advantage of flying insects in various habitats, which causes the species.  Each kind of flycatcher in this area has its own niche, in habitats ranging from open meadows to deep woods, which reduces competition for food among them.        Flycatchers in this area have plain feathering, which camouflages them against hawks and other predators, and makes it hard for us to find them.  But males of each kind have a distinctive call that proclaims nesting territories, brings the genders together for raising young, and allows us to detect the birds in hiding, and identify them.       Each pair of eastern kingbirds hatches offspring in an open

     I watched wildlife on Lake Onalaska, a large, shallow backwater off the Mississippi River in Wisconsin from late April into mid-June.  I did that through the Raptor Resource's live camera and our computer.      Lake Onalaska has many large mud flats, tall-grass and willow islands and other islands covered by tall, deciduous trees.  That diversity of habitats, including the shallows, make Onalaska a good wildlife refuge, especially during spring and summer.      Spring and summer wildlife at Onalaska can be categorized into residents, migrants and summer nesters.  Some nesters were migrants earlier.  And all the wildlife make Onalaska intriguing and exciting to experience, in person or on line.      Some stalwart-looking bald eagles are permanent residents at Onalaska, including when raising young in tall trees on islands from February into June.  The eagles feed on fish, ducks, coots and other creatures they catch.  But they also scavenge dead animals through the year.       

     I enjoy experiencing purple grackles and house finches nesting every year in our New Holland, Pennsylvania suburban neighborhood.  They are there partly because of the many planted coniferous trees, particularly arborvitae, around home.  Small, loose colonies of grackles raise young in arborvitae and spruces with their densely packed needles, while individual pairs of finches hatch babies in the same trees, and on supports under the awning over our deck, as a pair did in the year 2022.         House fiches are permanent residents here, but the grackles arrive here sometime in March, depending on the weather.  Immediately, the grackles search for invertebrate food on lawns and in fields, and places among the conifers to raise youngsters.  And they get down to nursery building by late March, each pair creating an open cradle of grass among evergreen twigs and needles.        Both these bird species are attractive.  Purple grackles are iridescently purple and blue with long tails and