Thursday, September 3, 2009

Juanita bay park, Kirkland


Blue winged teal at sunset, Juanita bay park

Equipment: Canon 20D, Canon 100-400mm

Image details: 400mm, f/5.6, 1/400sec, ISO 400

Juanita bay park in Kirkland is a beautiful 110 acre park located on the shores of lake Washington. The park has beautiful wetland habitat and a number of board walk trails. There are three overlooks at the end of the boardwalk trails. Make sure you visit all three of them. Keep your eyes open for Painted turtles, Red sliders, Great blue herons, Blue winged teals, Wood ducks, Ospreys etc. For more information about the various inhabitants of the park refer to the following website.

The park faces west and is best shot in late afternoon light. Juanita bay park also offers interpretive tours the first Sunday of every month. I have not yet been on this tour - it is on my list of things to do.

One of my favorite places in the park is the boardwalk that leads to the park entrance off 98th avenue. Its also called the Old market St trail. Its a fabulous spot to shoot sunset. A tripod is a must if you want to shoot sunsets. This is also a great spot to get silhouette shots of birds during sunset. You can setup on the walkway and wait for the wading waterfowl to come into range. Make sure you setup the ISO and shutter speed beforehand based on the light - you might get only one change to get a shot of the waterfowl and its important to have the right exposure.



Directions to Juanita Bay park

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