Saturday, September 22, 2012

A Day At The Park

Today is the "official" first day of Fall. And, what a perfect day it has been. I couldn't ask for better weather. 

I spent the morning running a few errands and then visited Basil Griffith Park. This particular park has 10 baseball fields, an 18-hole disc golf course, a sand volleyball court, a soccer field, a youth football field, 2 tennis courts, a roller hockey rink, a 5k cross country course, 2 walking trails, 3 horse shoe pits, an Amphitheater, four playground areas, picnic shelters and a 33 acre lake with boat ramp and lots of ducks and geese.


I couldn't resist snapping a shot of the fence shadow as I walked towards the lake.

There used to be a  big fishing deck that went out  into the water, but they tore it out and are in the process of re-doing it. You can see some of the temporary fencing around the construction site in the photo. The lake is stocked by the Fish and Wildlife Department and is a popular place for fishing.



This guy was paddling along enjoying the lake. 




Mr. Mallard was swimming along just waiting for the kids to throw him a piece of bread. (Most families that visit the lake bring bread to feed to the ducks and geese)










The Canadian Goose was my favorite. 





This one let me get pretty close, even taking a piece of bread from me, as long as I  moved slowly, which I do around geese since I know they can bite and that they will. (And IT HURTS). 


He ate his bread and then it was off to the water.

One was trying to take a nap but opened his eyes as i got closer. 


I snapped a couple of pictures and he got up. He watched me closely and when he opened his wings I backed off. 



 He headed for the water.






Along with his friends.


There were lots of white geese too. 













Some of them may actually be ducks as they have shorter necks and different colored bills. 












Either way they are so pretty and graceful in the water.





I am not sure of the particular breed  of some of them. 











It was fun to watch them come swimming towards whatever kid was tossing bread into the water.




I like watching them flap their wings and fly into the water too.















It was a great day to be outside enjoying the cooler temperatures while on the hunt for shadows and reflections as well as birds. 

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27 comments:

  1. Fall is in the air. Thanks for the great pictures.

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  2. Fall is in the air.

    It will make a few beautiful somersaults before passing over to Winter.

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  3. Beautiful photo series showing.
    Really like the images of Canada geese.
    Hanne Bente

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  4. A great series of photos. It looks like a very good place to visit and photograph.

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  5. Even though our temps haven't fallen I do so love the changing postition of the sun and light that produces beautiful shadows this time of year. Great captures!

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  6. A lovely set of photographs but I must mention that I find the text of the post very difficult to read - not sure what exact colour it is (red?) but it doesn't stand out from the background very well - probably looks OK to you but the difficulty is for those of us (and it's about 10% of the population) who have varying degrees of colour-blindness). Reds and greens don't go together very well. I see that in older posts you've used blue for the text which is OK. Personally I'd recommend black.

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  7. Your got up close and personal! I think some of those ducks are of mixed lineage between wild and domestic Mallards.

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  8. Wow.....what a park!!! All within the city limits? You are lucky to have such a glorious, wonderful place to go to to relax and enjoy the scenes!!!

    And, the birds...well, you know me....I have this new obsession of watching birds!! And photographing them. It's become an addiction. I also love, love, LOVE viewing photos of other bloggers' bird photos.

    So, from me...Hootin' Anni AND just plain Anni from the Bird D'Pot I want to thank you for linking up and leaving delightful comments at both my blogs this weekend.

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  9. Beautiful shots from your day at the park. Happy Fall!

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  10. The first day of autumn is a great day for chasing shadows!

    Hummingbird Heaven

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  11. definitely some mixed varieties in there - love to see them as they remind me of a 'mule' duck we had here for several years. she was a cross between a mallard and a muscovy. :) stopping in from bird d'pot.

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  12. I love how the fence and its shadow lead you right to the lake. Great photo!

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  13. Lovely series of photos of the feathered life round the lake! What a magical area!

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  14. Wat a great series of photo's and what a wonderful park. There is so much to do for everybody. Lovely.

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  15. Wonderful captures for the day! I do love parks and all the ducks and birds! The watery shadows/reflections are marvelous! Hope you have a good week!!

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  16. what a lovely walk and captures...thanks so much for taking us along on your venture!! And thanks for joining Nancy at Your Sunday Best this week.

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  17. Must be fun to watch those critters, I also love the reflection in the water!


    Family Shadow
    Have a blessed Sunday.
    Rose

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  18. the kayak did not look all that comfy. :( So many birds you found.

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  19. the first elongated shadow i like best


    much love...

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  20. Gosh-what a lovely day at the park that was! And, extra bonus that the goose was kind enough to hang out with you!

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  21. That is a wonderful park - so much for the community to do - 33 acres is a Minnesota sized big lake. Geese have such an stand-offish attitude that they seem almost impossible to capture. Yet you did and wonderfully too. In our home, our favorite waterfowl seem to be ducks, but I may reconsider after seeing this one!

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  22. What a gorgeous day and I'm loving all of the water fowl.Thanks so much for sharing at Your Sunday Best this week.

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  23. Oh what a gorgeous park that is. And how lucky for you to have all that beauty on your routine errand path! A visit would certainly turn an ordinary day into one of joy! Thanks for sharing the walk.

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  24. Loooks like it was a gorgeous day to be out in the park.

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  25. Gorgeous day at the park! Love those shots...

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