SmugMug Daily Link
After going to the Kids Workshop at Home Depot for their first Saturday of the month project, a Savings Shed (bank), we headed to Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park in Scotland Neck, NC.
SmugMug Link
Google Maps says that the park is 100 miles taking 1 hour and 51 minutes to drive from my house. That's about right. To put it in perspective, we're about 130 miles from Cape Hatteras by the time we've driven that far east and north! When I see the sign for the Aquarium and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, sometimes I just want to keep on going! One day!
After entering the park and passing through the visitor center, there is a pond of mixed nationality ducks. The boys love this section because they are allowed to feed the ducks food sold in the gift shop. At 50 cents a bag, we usually get 4 bags and have plenty to share with our friends in this pond and the other designated areas around the park. Here are the boys enjoying themselves. Below is a collage of the ducks that came to visit.
SmugMug Link
SmugMug Link
Now I'm not going to show you every picture I took that I liked. This might have to be a 2-3 day series:-) But needless to say having taken 1026 pics and saved 289 from the garbage bin, there are a few that might be worth sharing. This place has an endless number of photo ops!
Now I go to the park to enjoy being outside with the kids, taking pics, and to some extent continuing my education and appreciation of birds of all types. The boy go to see Matilda and play in the beaver blind, treehouse, and playground. Who is Matilda you ask? Well, she's a Cape Barren Goose native to Africa. She has some real personality, and if you're lucky, she might eat out of your hand.
SmugMug Link
SmugMug Link
I tried and tried and tried to get a good picture of the black swan that's in the area with Matilda, but I didn't get exactly what I wanted at least not in the sharpness of the shot.
SmugMug Link
You almost can't see the wire... I just love the colors!
SmugMug Link
I became incredibly fascinated with the eye of the Toco Toucan:
SmugMug Link
Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture of an eye of a constantly moving bird through a wire fence? :-)
I went through quite an effort to try to get the eyes of the Eurasian Eagle Owl only to discover back at home that the reflection in the eyes was kindof annoying:
SmugMug Link
I took pics of the turkeys, and the boys played on the boardwalk:
SmugMug Link
I tried and tried to get a shot of one of the turkeys with light in their eyes and the fence shadow NOT on their feathers and I just couldn't do it:-(
SmugMug Link
There are those silly boys again... Donnie pointed out that I put them in their Angry Birds shirts yesterday. Oops!
SmugMug Link
Did I mention that it was 70 in Scotland Neck yesterday and that I saw a blooming daffodil?!?
SmugMug Link
At the end of the day, as the boys were playing on the playground and I was contemplating leaving, one of the staff members saw me trying to take pictures through the fence at the front pond. She proceeded to tell me about a diamond-shaped hole in the fence over on the side where the sun would be at my back. You move and clip to the side a piece of plexiglass allowing for much better pictures. Cool! Here is a collection of shots taken then:
SmugMug Link
There were a few photo ops on the way home too. By the time I turned around and came back for the shot, the sun had fallen out of the sky. I was so disappointed!
SmugMug Link
I wish I could be back at that spot at 5:10PM to try again... This is a barn from a previous daily.
I did get this sortof nice last minutes of sunset color on a pond at a sand pit:
SmugMug Link
So which shot did I take yesterday that is the best shot? Which shot should I share as my daily? Be darned if I know. I guess I'd better just throw a dart and pick one at this point:-) OK...a flamingo shot...who can resist them, right?
If you live anywhere near Scotland Neck, NC or are passing through NC on I95, you really should stop in and enjoy Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park!
No comments:
Post a Comment