WATERFOWL AT WILDLIFE REFUGES IN MARCH

     Daily, from March 4 to March 9, 2026, I had been watching a few kinds of migrant waterfowl species gathering on large impoundments in Blackwater Wildlife Refuge in Maryland and Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Pennsylvania, through live computers at each location, 24/7, and our home computer screen by switching the computer back and forth between those refuges.  The thousands each of majestic tundra swans, Canada geese and northern pintail ducks at both refuges, and thousands of handsome snow geese at Middle Creek were noticeably restless and constantly vocal, day and night.  And adding to the excitement of experiencing those stately birds was their flocks daily going and coming from nearby feeding fields of winter rye and corn kernels in harvested corn fields.  All those elegant, migrating birds obviously rested on those impoundments a short time before migrating farther north to their annual nesting territories.  But they were exciting and inspiring to experience while in southeastern Pennsylvania.

     Each day, flock after flock after impressive flock of Canada geese snow geese and tundra swans came back around 4:30 PM, EST, to the human-made impoundments in those refuges to rest, digest, preen and socialize until hungry again when they would fly back to feeding fields, probably the next early morning.  Coming back to the built lakes, their clamoring groups of elegant birds swept magnificently over the impoundments and gracefully glided down to the water, creating beautiful, inspiring wild spectacles.  Seeing those stately waterfowl in the air and landing on the water always makes me think of our Creator.  Great hordes of waterfowl are always a joy to see and hear.  

     Seeing the swans in recent years takes me back to when they rested on the Susquehanna River at Washington Boro and Marietta in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  From there they flew out to broad feeding fields near Millersville, My Joy and Manheim in Lancaster County.

     One time at Middle Creek, we were parked off a country road by large fields on both sides of the road.  And by sheer luck, thousands of honking snow geese soon parachuted down onto those fields, many of them only a few feet from our car, which we stayed in with the windows down a bit.  We were in the middle of their great, noisy swarm of feeding snow geese.

     Flocks of northern pintails courted on those impoundments, and, spectacularly, in the air over them.  Four or five drake pintails gathered around a female on the water.  When she took speedy flight, the males lifted off after her and followed her over water and fields.  And the male who could best keep up with her rapid flight got to be her mate.

     All these swans, geese and ducks sit, swim and fly in the open, amid cold wind, rain and snow, day and night.  But all species have thick, two-layered feathering that keeps them comfortable and healthy in spite of all that. 

     About March 9, 2026, most of those migrant birds left those two refuges and flew farther north toward their nesting areas.  But as in every early-spring, they were entertaining and inspiring while they were here in southeastern Pennsylvania.   

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