Sloan’s Lake park is the second biggest park in Denver. There is a trail around the entire lake that is approximately 2.6 miles loop. In Big cities, big parks are great for photographic opportunities. They attract it all. People, wildlife, birds, boats, sunsets and sunrises. If you are in a big city, and like photography, then go to the biggest park and capture it all. That’s what I plan on doing here. Sharing my best photos I’ve taken at Sloan Lake, located in Denver, Colorado.
The lake has some pretty cool history as well. Despite living only a couple of miles away from Sloan’s Lake Park, I’ve only been there and walked the loop about 3-4 times. That’s something that needs to change as the photographic opportunities are great for being so close to the city.
Sunsets at Sloan’s Lake Park
Here is a photo of the sun setting at Sloan Lake Park near the small harbor where several boats are parked in the water. Photograph was taken late summer of 2017 with a Nikon D7100 and Tokina 11-16mm atx pro lens.
Boats towing skiers is a common site at Sloan Lake during the summer months. Even when the suns setting it won’t keep Denver locals from getting out into the water and having some fun.
Bird Photography and Birding at Sloan’s Lake Park
According to eBird.org, Sloan’s Lake Park has had 118 species of birds recorded, with just shy of 200 checklists. (as of August 2017) Here are some of my favorite bird photographs that I have taken over the course of a couple of years, and a couple of trips to the lake. Unless noted all bird photographs were taken using the Nikon 300mm f/4 prime lens with the 1.4 autofocus teleconverter.
American Coots are pretty common to see at the lake. They also tend to get pretty close to shore to provide great photo-ops if that’s what you are looking for.
Just the same with any body of water near Denver, most of the lakes have several Canada Geese year round. They are loud and obnoxious, in my opinion. But the babies can be pretty cute birds.
One of the more rare birds for the Denver area, Clark’s Grebe. I’ve spotted them a couple of times here at the lake. Usually they like to hang out around the other Grebes. They can be easily identified from Western Grebes as the black doesn’t go around the eyes. They also have a lighter bill but that can be tough to id from a distance. I pretty much walked around the lake for over an hour trying to photograph this picture of a Clark’s Grebe, and finally got close enough to where I could get a good photograph of him without heavily cropping the photo.
The Western Grebe is much more common throughout Colorado and especially at Sloan Lake. Note how the black surrounds the eye, and the bill is a bit darker. When compared to the Clarks Grebe.
American Crows are no rarity anywhere in Colorado. Still one of my favorite birds, not only to photograph, but just in general. 
Ducks are everywhere. Or domestic mallards, this ones flying in for a landing on the lake.
Red-winged Blackbirds can be found everywhere around the lake singing their hearts out. Although they are pretty cool looking birds, they are usually pretty easy to photograph just because there is such an abundance of them here in Colorado.
White pelicans are frequent visitors to the lake. They flock up pretty heavily, and like to hang out on the South side of Sloans lake, kind of in the middle. Maybe a little closer to the East side of the lake.
Dog Photography at Sloan’s Lake, Denver, Colorado
I haven’t photographed many dogs at Sloan’s Lake Park, yet. But this is going to change. The park is very dog friendly, although leashes are mandatory at the lake. Of course I removed the leash here in post-processing.
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