By Sherman Shifflett
Ava and I just returned from Mountain Lake where we spent a few days watching the rain. I mean, it poured. But that was okay; we went there to relax anyway. The 55-acre lake drained several years ago, but there are a few acres of water in the lake now, the result of recent rains.
One of the pleasures of staying at the lodge is to sit at the big window in the cafeteria during meals and watch the birds, especially early in the morning. There were birds galore, and some I had never seen.
There were more goldfinches than anything else, and they were feeding out of the bird feeder. Ground feeders drew doves and towhees. A chipmunk was getting his share of seeds on the ground. A robin was in the area too, but seemed more interested in catching worms, since the recent rains had pushed the worms to the surface.
Birds that looked like barn swallows or chimney swifts were circling around, and they even landed on the sidewalk, but they did not approach the feeder. I did not see cowbirds this year, but saw plenty others.
One new bird looked like a catbird, slate-gray, but with black tail and top of head was black – a ground feeder. It hopped about like a towhee.
Other diners were observing too. I overheard one man tell his son, “That is a vireo.” I had no idea which bird he was talking about. There was a small gray bird with pale red head. We saw a large brown bird with tan breast and head. There was a black horizontal stripe on either side of the eyes. We saws sparrows and a large black/white bird with a red head. It didn’t look like a woodpecker. Many of the birds were pretty, but a beautiful bird put in a cameo appearance, a rose-breasted grosbeak. The humming birds were visiting the nearby flowers and the humming-bird feeder.
The chipmunk was stuffing his jaws and we saw two teenage bunnies nibbling clover. Later, the chipmunk climbed a tree. I’ll bet it was 20-feet off the ground. I don’t think I have ever seen a chipmunk in a tree and I’m not sure what it was looking for.
I used to have a book. ” Guide to North American Birds and Small Game.” I could have used that book. That was many years ago.
Mountain Lake is where they filmed “Dirty Dancing.” Ava and I did a sequel – “Senior Dirty Dancing.” It was in slow motion.
It’s a nice getaway.