[TN-Bird] Clark Center Park, Anderson County, Tennessee
- From: "Carole Gobert" <cpgobert@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2005 16:28:06 -0500
New Year's Day, on an absolutely glorious morning, spent about 3 hours at
Clark Center Park in Oak Ridge. I had barely exited my car when I heard a
mixed flock of small birds in the pines at the edge of the parking lot.
This was 10:45 a.m. Checking out the pines and nearby trees, I saw flitting
among the pine cones chickadees, titmice, a golden crowned kinglet and a red
breasted nuthatch. A red bellied woodpecker was also present as well as two
downy woodpeckers and the melodious sounds of bluejays in the distance.
Other highlights of the day were the many dark-eyed, slate colored juncoes
in and under the cedars by the volleyball court and a ring-billed gull
noisily harassing a red-tailed hawk over the lake, finally pursuing it out
of sight. A belted kingfisher was rattling away, sharing its fishing
territory with two great blue herons.
Most surprising to me, as I was walking over the grassy area by the pavilion
near the volleyball court, I was almost to the low wooden fence when I
noticed a raccoon sitting on its haunches by the fence about 10 feet
distant. I stopped abruptly, the raccoon glanced at me and looked away, not
at all alarmed or even interested. I took out my camera, thinking I had one
shot left on the roll, but when I turned the camera on, it rewound. I was
sure the raccoon would bolt at the sound, but it remained blase'. I fumbled
around in my bag, locating new film, removed the old, attempted 3 or 4 times
to load the new roll before it finally loaded, and still Rocky waited
patiently. I took a couple of shots and my camera started acting balky, the
battery light lit up. I tried to change batteries only to discover that my
back-up batteries were the wrong size. I put the old batteries back in.
The raccoon still hadn't moved. He/she was still there after I finished
filming and left.
Clark Center Park is one of my favorite places, especially in the winter
when the road from the parking area is closed to traffic. Saturday was
gorgeous, a day when it's a crime to remain indoors, yet the park was
deserted except for a few fishermen in boats. It's in Oak Ridge city limits
and easy to get to yet far enough from civilization that you can't hear any
traffic noises (except for the boats). There's a lake. There's a restroom.
There's always lots of birds. There are benches to sit on and watch the
river. There's a raccoon.
Carole Gobert
Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee
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