As far as birds and birding go, I truly live where east meets west – essentially in the center of the continent – and last Thursday the birds emphasized the east-west point. During a dreary, gloomy, overcast, even foggy afternoon, I was thrilled to see a late season Ferruginous Hawk at the eastern edge of the species’ range and the southern edge of my birding drive (17miles south of my office). Then, in the midst of fog rising off Carlson Lake at the northern edge of Thursday’s birding drive (7 miles north of my office), I noticed a waterbird that prompted me to take a magnified look at a Common Loon at the western edge of its species’ range!

Thrilled to find of a pair of Common Loons near home, it was even possible to take this action photo from dry land rather than a boat. The photos were taken during a very foggy period Thursday afternoon, and while cropping this image I realized it was essentially a black-and-white photo, a throwback to another time due to the lack of sunlight (600mm zoom lens, f-7 aperture, 1/640 shutter speed, 1600 ISO).

It didn’t stop there though, because after taking a couple documentary photos of the loon in full winter plumage I looked back over my shoulder to see a second Common Loon – this one a little bigger and only above the surface for a moment before diving underwater. Were there more loons among the scattered American Coots near the east shore of the lake? Continued observations indicated this was a male on the hunt, while the female was resting during the first 12 minutes, but they came together amid low contact calls, and thereafter the female began diving for food too. This was an eventful sighting, because not only is any loon sighting rare in these parts – limited to 1 or no sightings during recent years, but it is the first time I’ve seen a pair of Common Loons in an area lake!

Consider this a documentary photo of the first pair of Common Loons I have seen or know of in the open wetland-prairie-cropland complex where I live in the open plains. That said, it could be argued that the foggy conditions added a moody quality to the image (600mm zoom lens, f-8 aperture, 1/1600 shutter speed, 1600 ISO).

Back to the weather: As noted, it was a cloudy low-light afternoon, but just before I saw the first loon fog was forming on the surface of the lake. With extra-high humidity, it was on the verge of sprinkling when I stopped and a few tiny sprinkles hit my windshield as I continued to take a few photos. The loons were positioned relatively near the east side of the lake, fairly close to the road that follows the contour of the lake there, and after the pair approached one another, the female began swimming ever-closer to my position – my loon luck was kicking in again. Positioned in my mobile blind, newly rescued from an extended stay at the auto repair shop, both loons eventually moved closer, providing better photos in the process.

The foggy conditions were far from adequate for photography beyond documentary images though, and even when I increased my usual ISO setting from 800 to 1600 and reduced my aperture from f-8 to f-6, the photos I was taking had no color at all. They were a medium-gray at best, resembling black-and-white photos that had zero contrast as the water reflected the foggy gray sky, and the winter plumage of the loons showed no black coloration. The only white was on the underside of the loons, from the neck to the belly, and the only time I saw a belly was when the female faced directly toward me as she rose up to produce classic wing flapping motions that gave me a real thrill as I followed the wingbeats in fractions of a second through my camera lens.

To emphasize the importance of photographing in good sunlight conditions with the sun at your back and the bird before you, this loon photo shows the bright colors, contrast, and sharpness that blue-sky sunlight provides. This photograph was taken last year on October 3rd under ideal sunlight conditions in the wooded lakes country of Minnesota (600mm zoom lens, f-11 aperture, 1/1600 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

As you know, I emphasize that I almost never bother to go birding if I don’t have adequate sunlight, but Thursday I felt the need to survey of the birds in the area at the mid-point of October. With overcast sky to begin with, the addition of ever-thicker fog made photo conditions almost impossible, but sometimes we all need a little ‘almost impossible’ in our lives, if only to make us appreciate the photo ops when good sunlight conditions prevail. Overall, the fog also made the photos a less than sharp, but that takes nothing away from the exciting experience of spending time with a pair of loons so close to home. The rarity of this loon sighting, and the chance to photograph them created a magic half-hour in the presence of the pair of Dakota Common Loons.

Hawk Site Sightings

As noted above, the loons were the second surprise of the day. The adult male Ferruginous Hawk appeared as far east as I’ve seen a Ferrug in many years, although I have seen this species before in the very spot where the hawk was perched. In fact, I saw a pair of Ferruginous Hawks in this same grove of 10 cottonwood trees back in early spring, 6 months before on the morning of April 8th. Impressively, the female was settled into the historic nest positioned in a central cottonwood as the male perched attentively nearby.

The surprise of finding a male Ferruginous Hawk perched on the edge of a small grove of cottonwood trees near a nest visited by a pair of Ferruginous Hawks 6 months earlier was the initial highlight of the day. The subdued lighting created by overcast conditions underlines the importance of the quality and direction of lighting on any photograph (600mm zoom lens, f-7 aperture, 1/1600 shutter speed, 1600 ISO).

Moments later, the male flew a short distance to land on a low hill to the east as though it was after ground-based prey. That led me to reposition a bit to take full advantage of the morning sunlight. In a couple minutes I was rewarded with an opportunity to photograph the male as it made a dramatic banking flight into the brisk west wind. I needed to quickly step outside my car to take what became my favorite series of flight photos of the year of the regal hawk in flight with a deep blue sky background (see the last photograph illustrating this article).

Now, here was a male Ferruginous Hawk perched in almost the same location as I saw the male 6 months earlier – hmm. After that eventful April morning, I never saw the Ferruginous pair at the nest site again; but now, here was a male. It didn’t appear to be the same male, as this Ferruginous Hawk had tan markings on some breast feathers, while the April Ferrug had solid white breast plumage. Nonetheless, it would seem there was some sort of a Ferruginous Hawk attraction to this little cottonwood grove with the empty nest that was originally used by a pair of nesting Swainson’s Hawks a couple years ago.

More immediately, I had a chance to photograph this western hawk, and although there was a cloud-covered sky, the light level was much better than I experienced at the loon location because the cloud ceiling was higher and there was no water in the area, so no fog. The hawk wasn’t edgy, and I was even able to move my car a few feet to reposition so there was a minimum of branches in the background after taking a couple initial photographs. Nonetheless, I was pretty close to the big hawk and after a couple minutes it took flight into the windless afternoon sky. I had to step out of the car to follow the flight of the Ferrug, and although it flew a quarter-mile north, it turned and made a return flight toward the cottonwood grove.

I quickly focused on the hawk’s flight and took a series of photographs as it approached a tree branch on the far side of the grove, and that’s where I left the adult male. The resulting photographs of the hawk were much sharper than the loon photos, fueled by better lighting conditions, and the cloud cover produced a pretty uniform white background in the hawk images.

Taken 6 months earlier within a few feet of the above photo, this photograph illustrates what a big difference good lighting makes. Showing vivid colors and sharp details, this photograph was taken with morning sunlight illuminating the Ferruginous Hawk perfectly as it banked into a stiff west wind (600mm zoom lens, f-9 aperture, 1/2500 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

As an exemplary point for this article, I decided to provide a photo of a loon in winter plumage that I took last October during excellent sunlight conditions to show how important good lighting is to getting the best photo results. You could argue that the gray-toned loon photos that I took last Thursday show character and mood, but it’s easy to see the difference good lighting makes. Similarly, I include my favorite photograph of the male Ferruginous Hawk from the flight series that I took the morning of April 8th, adjacent to the same nest site to show the color and lighting differences.

These photos should be useful examples of the importance of sunlight in bird photography, but don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled to have observed the exciting east-west representatives and to share the best of the documentary photos of the loons and hawk I was able to take. Of course, I checked back on both the observation sites with the hope of re-finding the pair of Common Loons or the Ferruginous Hawk, but like so many other birds in the area, they are on the move now. The Common Loons and Ferruginous Hawk provided some sightings of local historic significance – the first pair of Common Loons that anyone knows of in the community, and the “coincidental” location of the late season Ferruginous Hawk sighting. Good Luck during your autumn birding activities, especially when you have your camera in hand, or within reach!

Article and Photographs by Paul Konrad

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