The Frog Pond at Bald Eagle State Park

In hot pursuit of a hound, a bay horse, and a turtledove!

It was Monday, and back in the old days, I'd be working, of course. But I'm retired now, so Mondays can be for fun! So on this day, my husband and I took my little blue Sonic up to Bald Eagle State Park for an adventure. On the way, we stopped at Fisher's Market in Milesburg and grabbed a couple of hoagies and tossed them into the cooler for our lunch.

We parked the car not far from the Butterfly and Skyline Trails, and my husband went for a jog while I walked all around with my camera. The Frog Pond, which you can see above, is a popular destination this time of year. Some pink trees are just coming into bloom and there are several nice benches there.

There are also some structures along the edges of the water for the birds, and I was watching a little bird flit around one. I got my camera out and was doing my famous, trademark, one-handed zoom, trying for a better look, zooming it all the way, all the way, all the way out, and my brain was all up inside my camera, like it gets when I do that. And then suddenly, I heard a pair of birders, standing right behind me, watching me zooming like a fiend, and asking politely, Was there something in particular I was looking for?

Which cracked me up and pleased me both. What am I here for? Is this a sneak catechism question? And it reminded me of something my husband's father said to him one time. He (who was most definitely NOT a woods type person) asked my husband WHAT HE HAD LOST in the woods, that he just had to keep going back looking for it? 

And of course, the perfect answer, written by Thoreau more than a hundred years ago, is this: “I long ago lost a hound, a bay horse, and a turtledove*, and am still on their trail. Many are the travellers I have spoken concerning them, describing their tracks and what calls they answered to. I have met one or two who had heard the hound, and the tramp of the horse, and even seen the dove disappear behind a cloud, and they seemed as anxious to recover them as if they had lost them themselves.”

But I digress. I simply told the very nice men - one quite old and having trouble walking, one middling (his son?) - that I was looking for a bird. As birders, this was JUST THEIR GAME! They got very excited to help me. They had their binos out already, and quickly whipped them around to have their own look for it.

They never remarked upon the Tiger riding in my shirt pocket. Then they pronounced my bird to be a goldfinch, wished me a pleasant day, and left! (You may also note that there is indeed a bird in this shot, flying toward me, though it was not MY bird. By its flight pattern and wing shape, I guessed it to be some type of swallow.)

I continued my hike up around the pond, along a fine green pathway through the trees. There were more benches there and you may see one in the Extras. The sight of all that green grass was just a breath of fresh air, I must admit! What a lovely spring day it was for a visit to the park!**

My soundtrack song for this day goes with the story of searching for things that we have lost in the woods. Here's U2, with I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.  Oh my goodness, here's a bonus version, with both U2 AND Bruce Springsteen!!!! Gah!!!!!


*Sidebar: I myself have lost an earring made of gorgeous dichroic glass, a prescription medication (two times), and a credit card in the Walmart parking lot. The earring, I never found, though I went back 10 times in the snow looking for it. (My good girlfriend Jen, a jewelry maker, salvaged the remaining earring by turning it into a pendant for me; that's what friends do.) The prescription medication - one of them turned up in a bag with a package of cat food, and the other I'd left in the cart and had to go back to the Pharmacy to get, as that's where it ended up when found. The credit card, well, you just won't believe this one. (I cancelled it immediately when I realized it was lost, of course.) The credit card was found, YEARS LATER, beneath the spare tire in the trunk of the car. Now, if I spent a hundred hours (or a hundred YEARS), flicking that credit card into the trunk, INTENTIONALLY trying to put it under the spare tire, NO WAY could I do it! (Yes, my husband and I actually stood and tried!) But hey, I apparently have secret accidental talents when it comes to flicking credit cards under spare tires in the trunk. Who knew?

**Second Sidebar: Things you might need to know if visiting Bald Eagle State Park. The water is still drawn down on the lake. Most of the restrooms are still closed. The access road to the Hunter Run East Launch is still closed. And that's the update from Bald Eagle State Park.