Plumage On Parade ...

"You musn't be afraid to dream 
a little bigger, darling."
                        ~ from the film "Inception,"
                                             ~ 2010  
A domestic turkey puffs up, struts and parades
its beautiful plumage in March at the Lehigh Valley Zoo in Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.  

Majestic In The High Grass ...

"Be inspired by your journeys traveled,

and the ones yet to come."

                                ~ Sam Clark

Beautiful seven-point white-tailed deer buck

strikes a majestic pose while passing through 

the park as sunset sinks into dusk on a late

September evening. 

Peek-A-Blue ...

 “The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.”

               ~ J.M. Barrie

                     ~ 1860-1937

                 from “The Little White Bird”

                           ~ 1902

                 Barrie is the creator of Peter Pan, who first appeared in “The Little White Bird”

A beautiful tree swallow – known for its iridescent blue-green color upper parts – peeks out of its nesting box on a May evening at Lehigh Gap Nature Center.

While there are young or eggs in the nest, adult tree swallows frequently dive bomb intruders, including curious humans, and attempt to drive them from the area – I personally know this to be true, and so does my camera!

In the shadow of the Kittattiny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, the Lehigh Gap in Slatington, Pennsylvania, is a crossroads where the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s trails connect two historic trails – the Appalachian Trail and the Delaware and Lehigh Heritage Corridor Trail (D&L Trail). 

The Appalachian Trail, a foot path, follows the ridge on both sides of the Lehigh Gap, running 1,245 miles south to Georgia and 930 miles north to Maine. Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

Wild Red ...

"Never look back unless
you are planning to go that way."
                     ~ Henry David Thoreau
                                    ~ 1817-1862

The light of a late August sunset dances around
a wild and beautiful red fox as it peers ahead
in the high grass in the waning summer at
Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania. 
 

Peering Atop The Apple Tree ...

“Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me,

Anyone else but me, anyone else but me, no, no, no!

Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me …”

            ~ “Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree 
                  (With Anyone Else But Me)

    ~  Sam H. Stept, composer 
      ~ Lew Brown & Charles Tobias, writers

         ~ A popular song made famous by Glenn Miller & by The Andrews Sisters during World War II. Its lyrics are the words of two young lovers who pledge their fidelity while one of them is away serving in the war. It remained in “Your Hit Parade’s” first place from October 1942 through January 1943, the longest period for a war song to hold first place.

“Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me” ~ perhaps that’s what this Great White Egret – also known as a Great White Heron – is thinking as it almost seems to be waving while peering from atop an apple tree while on the hunt on an August evening at Cedar Creek Parkway,

Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Window To Friendship ...

“You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you.

You have to go to them sometimes.”

                            ~ A.A. Milne

                                 ~ 1882-1956

                      ~from “Winnie-the-Pooh”

                       ~ published October 14, 1926

Adorable cottontail rabbit and chipmunk eye each other as they meet for what may well be the first time as they scurry for food on a summer evening at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

“Winnie-the-Pooh” has always been a favorite of mine since childhood, and the words of A.A. Milne sprang to my mind at this sweet peek into wildlife.