“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.