Robert Stanger

As owners of a cabin located on the west side of the Allegheny River south of Warren, my wife and I are fortunate to have the ability to view a beautiful scene each clear evening as the sun slowly sinks behind the steep slopes that line the river’s west side.

As the sun gradually sets, it illuminates the tree foliage to the northeast in a scene that is striking as long as the national forest’s oaks, maples and beeches are leafed out. The view becomes spectacular in the autumn when the foliage becomes so multi-hued.

As the sun’s shadow advances up the slopes north of us, the view downriver from our open-air planked porch becomes much less distinct even as campfires in the cottage area on the river’s east side become very apparent.

Even later in the evening, well after the slopes above us have darkened, the river … if there is moonlight … becomes a broad silver ribbon.

Before the bright scene darkens upriver, I am impressed by the wide variety of bird and animal life we can observe while seated on our small porch.

Above us, rose-breasted grosbeaks, both the black-and white males with their splotch of red on their necks and the more prosaically feathered females cluster on or near our bird feeder.

(Their visit to our area is relatively brief however. They arrive in early May, and are said to be on their way back south to Central America by the end of July.)

Below our porch, a rabbit scoots along on the grassy plateau just above the river. It is probably the same animal that I often see munching on clover on our neighbor’s lawn.

(The rabbit perhaps realizes that coyotes are unlikely to venture into the Althom cottage area.)

However, black bears will, as evidenced by a small deposit of scat beneath the bird feeder. The animal had probably sought to savage the tiny number of seeds that fall from the feeder.

The seeds also attract chipmunks, which live in burrows around the cabin and are a constant presence there, except when hibernating.

The feeder also attracts squirrels. The red species are the peskiest, but gray and fox squirrels will also climb down the rope that suspends the feeder from a branch of the large linden tree that towers over our cabin

Amid all this wildlife (both avian and land-based) that can be viewed close-by from our porch, there is much more wildlife activity to be seen out on the river below.

Tree swallows skim the surface in search of insects, and mallard ducks often paddle along the shore.

When I rise in the morning and gaze out along the shore, a blue heron is apt to be standing in the swallows, seeking its breakfast.

Bald eagles hunting for fish are often seen cruising above the river, and above them, looking for carrion, turkey buzzards frequently soar.

The clamor of Canada geese is often heard early in the morning as they wend their way in V formations above the river’s heavy mist, and when paddling my canoe along the brushy shore below our cabin, I often disturb wood ducks. They will fake injury and issue palliative calls as they scurry ahead of my canoe in effort to safeguard their young hidden in the shoreline growth.

When I have passed where their young are hidden, the miraculously recovered ducks will take off and circle back to their young.

Along this same shore, large soft-shelled turtles often splash into the river from large rocks, and paths lead to the river from the forest above that are formed by deer coming down to the river to drink. They are often seen standing along the shore in the morning.

One recent evening, as I sat on the porch, a mother merganser duck trailed by a large squad of her offspring paddled upriver.

A passing boat forced the ducklings to scatter, but they quickly regrouped. In their mother’s wake.

If more severely threatened, they could always just climb up on their mother’s back.

It is comforting to know that this portion of the Allegheny River that I have come to know so well is protected through a “Wild and Scenic” federal designation as it is certainly both … in its own limited way.

Robert Stanger has lived seasonally for over 40 years along the Allegheny River and has the stories to tell about it.