Frank Lake
Frank Lake is a large wetland area approximately 50 km south of Calgary, it's an area I was unaware of until a chance meeting in the elbow valley back in april. I was making photos around the beaver ponds and had a brief conversation with a bird watching guy who said it was 'full of birds'. I confess that I'm not an avid bird watcher but I don't mind shooting them as a photo topic and like to see new places so I made a mental note of the name, it wasn't hard to remember as my stepdad was called Frank and he loved photographing birds.
When june came and Cecil and I were looking for a day with the camera we decided to go take a look at the venue. You can access it by taking highway 2 out of Calgary to High River and taking exit 194A to highway 23 east, it's just 5 km along 23 east to the 'main' entrance to the site.
Cecil and I didn't take that route though because its a main highway and dull as ditchwater. Instead we met up at Bragg Creek and drove highway 22 south to Hartell before turning east on the 543, a much more pleasant route taking us through Millerville, Turner Valley and Black Diamond with little traffic and more interesting surrounds.
From the entrance there's a short gravel road leading to a parking area close to the blind.
When june came and Cecil and I were looking for a day with the camera we decided to go take a look at the venue. You can access it by taking highway 2 out of Calgary to High River and taking exit 194A to highway 23 east, it's just 5 km along 23 east to the 'main' entrance to the site.
Cecil and I didn't take that route though because its a main highway and dull as ditchwater. Instead we met up at Bragg Creek and drove highway 22 south to Hartell before turning east on the 543, a much more pleasant route taking us through Millerville, Turner Valley and Black Diamond with little traffic and more interesting surrounds.
From the entrance there's a short gravel road leading to a parking area close to the blind.
There are a few walkways mown into the wild grasses and a more robust stone pathway leading to a wooden boardwalk which crosses the shallow water to the blind. The captioned gallery below shows more detail, including a lovely Barn Swallow who has taken up residence.
The waterfowl seemed to give the blind a wide berth and though there were many birds around getting any decent shots was quite difficult (an excuse for an enormous super telephoto lens purchase maybe) This Ruddy Duck didn't mind to much and drifted past quite frequently.
On the pathway and boardwalk leading to the blind we were surrounded by birds, I confess I didn't know most of them but looked them up when I got home. There were dozens of Yellow headed Blackbirds, both male and female hunting dragonflies or midges by the beakfull to feed their incessant chicks which were scattered around the reeds and rushes.
From the blind we followed a mown trail through the grass to a small peninsula where blackbird chicks were demanding feed constantly. Both parents were hurrying to and fro bringing dragonflies and midges to appease the chicks. We saw a ground squirrel along the way
After returning to the blind we headed west along another shoreline trail where we were able to get a little closer to the beautiful avocet and watched a black tern showing off his aerodynamic prowess.
All in all a visit to Frank Lake was a great way to spend the afternoon, there is an abundance of birdlife and I'm sure serious birders and bird photographers would have a field day here. I enjoyed it and may well return but I'd rather time it to include some landscape work at sunrise or sunset.
For my birthday at the end of June, Sarah bought me a new crop sensor camera (the crop effectively extends the reach of any of my lenses by 1.6). I couldn't wait to try it out, and as Sarah had not yet seen Frank Lake I was more than happy to return and show her the area and try out the new Canon 7D mk II. I shot hand held with a 600mm Tamron lens (which is a 960mm on the crop body) and my trusty 100-400mm Canon L series (which is 160-640mm on the crop)
This reach advantage got me much closer to the birds allowing for some really nice shots so I decided to add this gallery to the existing page. The birds are pretty much the same ones as those previously shown but with young grebes here and there.
This reach advantage got me much closer to the birds allowing for some really nice shots so I decided to add this gallery to the existing page. The birds are pretty much the same ones as those previously shown but with young grebes here and there.