Local Patch-Raleigh

I moved to Raleigh in North Carolina at the beginning of Sept 08, We rented an appartment for a couple of months whilst we found our way around, I spent alot of time driving around the area not just in search of a house to buy but for good areas for wildlife, There are many lakes in this part of the world and some are huge, The main 2 lakes that i have been viewing have been Falls lake and Jordan Lake, Jordan lake is massive-14000 acres and splits off into many arms, Here i have seen Osprey and Bald Eagle on many occasions, Falls lake is smaller but still extremely large,There are Osprey nests on posts on many lake in the area and a couple look good for photography when the birds nest in the spring, I have spoken to various wildlife rangers here and they have told me of the nests that are reguarly used so i can start to prepare, One thing that i wanted when looking for a house was that there was some woodland near as where there is woodland there will be fox, I was lucky enough to find a house at the end of a cul de sac backing onto a farm and between the farm and the house is woodland, The first time i viewed the property i thought i saw a white flash go through the woods, When i moved in late one evening i looked out of my living room window to see White tailed deer at the fence and during the night they jumped the fence and come into the back garden, Now i buy sacks of corn and every evening i throw some over into the wood and the deer come to eat, I also throw some minced dog food over and i see Grey fox and possum almost nightly, I havent set out to take any images of these yet although have grabbed a few snaps of the deer that now come into the garden mid day and eat my bird food,
There are some beautiful birds out here,Most notably the Cardinal which is the state bird,The Eastern bluebird is a stunner and my favorite the tufted titmouse, But i get a good mix with pine siskins,house finch,doves and others feeding there most days, I have set up some simple feeding stations with nice branches strapped above for the birds to land and where i can get a nice looking shot without food being in the shot-see my last post in the snow, Its very early days for me here but i am meeting and talking to people about my local patch and in the spring/summer will be concentrating on Beaver,Osprey,Grey fox and Possum which i will shoot both in the day and during the night and alot can be done from my own back yard


Dave