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This Week at the Lake – 16/52

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A similar shot to start this week off as last week – but I really liked it!

My week at the lake started on Tuesday, I set the alarm clock for 4:45 am so I could make it before work. The problem I face with that is that it’s too dark to really get any wildlife photos. I was able to get the sun coming down Otter Creek Rd:

And then I tried to get a shot of the mist/fog rising on the lake with the sunrise:

Also that morning I met big time Ashville, NC wedding photographer Corey McNabb. He was on his way back from a wedding in Memphis and stopped to get some bird photos at Radnor. We looked for the owls but were not able to find them that morning. Check out his site, he’s got some great photos.

Next I went Thursday morning. Thursday was a great day to watch the owls but again, it was so dark because it was early I couldn’t get any good shots. I saw 3 younger owls and one adult. I watched one of the younger owls pretend to hunt in the creek bed, picking up sticks and tossing them aside, fun to watch!
Here is one decent shot of a younger owl:

Thursday is also when I got the top post, with the sun rising just over camera right.
Also got this bird photo that morning:

Since the owls were so active in the morning, I went back at lunch hoping to still see them. I only saw one then but he was too far away.
I’m not sure what type of bird this is but he was very cooperative, posing for me while I was looking for the owls:

I also spotted this doe and fawn:

On the way back to the car, I got this:

This Week at the Lake – 14/52

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Week 14 is an all owl week! I visited Radnor Lake on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday – each at around noon. Each day I saw multiple owls! The young owls are often hanging out while the parent is out hunting. I was only able to see the parent on two of those days. I watched her hunt and catch something on both Thursday and Friday. On Friday, she brought the food over and fed one of the younger owls. Unfortunately, I was not in a good position to get a shot of that.

Here are my shots of the Barred Owls at Radnor Lake:

This Week at the Lake – 13/52

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I visited Radnor Lake twice this week. Once on Thursday at lunch and once on Friday after work -which is the first time I’ve been there in the evening since Week 4.

The lesson of the week is: CHARGE YOUR BATTERIES!
Thursday at lunch, I got out of the car, turned the camera on and noticed the battery was very low. Since it was already Thursday and I had not gotten any shots yet, I decided to try to find something easy like geese rather than hope to see another owl. So I walked down the road and noticed that they had opened a portion of the road that was closed due to storm damage. I made it to a deck that overlooks the lake and got this:

I took probably 10-15 photos of these geese. I started walking back to where I had seen the owl last week. Forgetting that my battery was low, I took some photos of deer that were practically on the other side of the lake…

Then I made it to the spot- the long bridge on the west end of the Lake Trail. I walked out there and right away I spotted:

I thought it was awesome! Two times in a row at Radnor I saw a Barred Owl. Then I started looking around, I looked up…..

I couldn’t believe it! There were 2 more owls watching me. I walked around to see if I could get a different view of these owls. When I got to the other side of the tree, I looked up and….

A fourth? Are you kidding me? I’ve seen one owl in 12 weeks and now here are 4 in one day!
Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw another – a fifth owl that was hunting. He had just flown back to a tree with something in his mouth. Then he flew towards me, and stopped at a tree that was so close to me and was in the perfect light. I raised my camera, pushed the button and…..

Nothing.
I looked down and read “Change The Battery Pack”

Then the owl flew right over top of me. It was my chance to get an awesome Owl-in-Flight shot. He flew to the other owls and gave one of them the food he had (I’m no owl expert but I’m guessing the others in the tree were younger owls). Then he flew from there and into another tree. And I have no shots of that event…. If only I hadn’t taken so many shots of geese. Oh, and before I saw the fifth one, I took this:

So I went home and charged the batteries. I couldn’t make it on my lunch break on Friday so I went after work. I went to the “owl city” and there weren’t any there. After sitting there for 15-20 minutes I headed down the road. I wanted to get a couple HDR’s this week so I stopped and got these:

Also got this along the road:

Then heading back to the car I got this dear in the road:


These people were walking around the corner and this dear didn’t care one bit.

I also snapped this near where I had seen the owls:

And that was my week – 2 days, lots of pictures, and one missed opportunity! Oh well, it’s only week 13…

This Week at the Lake – 10/52

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This Week at the Lake - 10/52

My 10th week was a very short one. I was traveling for work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Friday, I spent the morning registering my son for Kindergarten! Wow, I can’t believe he’ll be in school!

So the only chance I had was Thursday on my lunch break. So I had about 30 to 40 minutes to get something decent for the week. I’m not sure I really got anything great, but I guess that’s how it can go sometimes during a year long project.

There were some big storm clouds in the sky so I parked at the west entrance hoping to get a wide shot of the lake with the clouds overhead. I was going to walk down the road some to get a good view when I came up to this:

So, scratch that idea. I walked back to see what I could see along the lake trail through the woods. That trail starts off with the bridge at the top of this post. While crossing this bridge I noticed a deer laying down in the mud:

I almost completely missed it.

By then it was time to head back to the car – yes, 40 minutes really goes by that fast… (also because while I was on the road, I spent some time stalking a turtle that resulted in no photos)

On the way back to the car, I caught this woodpecker:

This Week at the Lake – 7/52

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Technical info:
All shots with the Canon XSi
Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 at 10mm
3 exp (-2, 0, +2)
f10, (1/1000, 1/250, 1/60)
Hand held (only because I left the tripod at home!)
ISO 100

I’m 7 weeks into a 52 week project called “This Week at the Lake”.
“The Lake” is Radnor Lake in Brentwood/Nashville Tennessee
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=36.045629,-86.786842&spn=0.041292,0.123596&z=14&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

It’s a great place for photography and it’s very close to where I work in Brentwood. I’m able to go on my lunch break and occasionally early in the morning. There’s always plenty of wildlife and beautiful wooded or lake scenes. If you walked all the way around (which I don’t have time for usually) you will hike almost 2.5 miles. 1.8 of it is a wooded hiking trail, the rest follows Otter Creek road, a road that has been closed.

My main goal in visiting there so often is to see an Eagle or an Owl, both of which are definitely there. I’ve already got a shot of a Red Tailed Hawk, Turkey and plenty of Deer.

Every Saturday I’ll post a collection of shots taken that week at Radnor Lake.

This week I was only able to make two short lunch break trips. Along with the benches above, I got these:

70-200 2.8 L at 200mm
f2.8, 1/2000
ISO 100


Canon 70-200 2.8 L at 200mm
f2.8, 1/320
ISO 100


Canon 70-200 2.8 L at 200mm
f2.8, 1/250
ISO 100