I lived my first 67 years in the Lehighton area. My dad also lived his entire life here as well.

He enjoyed hunting and fishing, and it was no wonder that as a youngster I wanted to join him.

I remember when I tagged along with Dad on an afternoon when he went bear hunting. I think I was 6 or 7. I was about that age when I got better at fishing, and Dad had company at that point for years to come.

When I reached 16, I could then drive to local streams. Until then, Dad was my companion, or vice versa, he was my companion. Later on, when I fished mostly solo, I still had company, but those companions weren’t human.

Trout fishing in my younger days involved fishing with bait, and Dad thought I first had to master catching wild trout, so we often fished Pine Run, Saw Mill Creek, Bull’s Run, and even hiked back into the beautiful, clear waters of Hell Creek and Pin Oak Run. That is where I started noticing the wildlife around me when I fished.

If you are a angler like me, I bet that catching a trout or pulling in a bass was not the only thing you did that day. If you had a section of a stream to yourself or pulled your boat into a quiet cove, I guarantee you had some company.

While wading in the Pohopoco and carefully drifting my dry fly under streamside rhododendrons, I often reeled in my line and stood there and watched. Louisiana waterthrushes and song sparrows navigated the rocky edges of the stream looking for insects.

At one location on Pohopoco Creek, every trip I made there that summer I had phoebes darting off out of their perches and snatching up the same insects that my dry fly was imitating. In the few spots where the “Po” flowed near farms, barn and tree swallows flew just above the stream’s surface.

Quite a few times I startled a great blue heron that squawked while it flew away, but quickly alit 50 yards upstream. Common mergansers sometimes drifted into the same pool I was fishing and then paddled quickly across the surface to take flight.

My favorite bird companions usually didn’t join me streamside until about mid-July, cedar waxwings. Sometimes a flock of 10 to 15 birds were perched on trees along the bank and one by one would dart out, snatch up an emerging Mayfly and back again. Often, I would just wade to the bank, sit on a rock and watch them for an hour. I believe they were adult birds with their fledglings, and I was guessing they were in training.

Birds aren’t all that kept me company.

About a half-dozen times, I watched a mink scurry along the shore doing its “mink thing” investigating any possible meal opportunities.

I watched muskrats swim across the stream, and once a beaver drifted by with the current on the opposite side of the creek. It appeared to be completely oblivious of me.

And, of course, I’ve often seen the sneaky looking, periscope type head of a northern water snake making a hasty getaway after slithering off a low shrub just above the water.

So, if catching a bunch of trout, or a bass or two, isn’t the most important thing. Find some time to take in all the activity and the animals that keep you company.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: I’ve already seen the first fledgling starlings and grackles everywhere. However, the _____ hasn’t even begun to nest yet. A. cliff swallow; B. great blue heron; C. American goldfinch; D. blue jay.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: The blackpoll warbler makes a 6,000-mile round trip in its migration each year. Since it travels so far, it is one of the last warblers to arrive in our region in spring.

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com