Great Northern Diver - a.k.a. Common Loon

[alanhill]

I had some luck with this species yesterday. It's only a winter visitor in the UK and rather uncommon. But this bird has spent several days on the marine lake at West Kirby, which is one of Rich's haunts, but also very close to my mother's house: so when I visited yesterday I spent half an hour trying for some photos.
The bird was fishing at the far end of the lake, where there are three wooden jetties for watersports enthusiasts. Two were already occupied by photographers with tripods and long lenses, which put my monopod and 300mm f/4 to shame. I made my way along the third jetty and got a couple of rather distant record shots.
I noticed that the bird kept equidistant from the three photographers, but that the wind was blowing towards the jetty I was on. So I decided to retreat for a few minutes to let it come closer. Amazingly this tactic worked. I kept looking at my watch and thinking 'wait for one more dive'.
When I couldn't wait any longer, I watched it dive and then rushed back along the jetty (taking care as the wood was slippery). I managed to get some decent shots without disturbing the bird. I had no choice but to take them directly into the light, fortunately the weather was cloudy, so some detail was recorded when I added some overexposure. Of course they needed some post-processing and these are 50% crops. They make me realise how much I want more time for bird photography and a longer lens too :confused:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/alanhill/Birds/WestKirby016_104b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/alanhill/Birds/WestKirby016_109d.jpg

Alan

[squidfish]

LOL Alan...I tried the jetty trick on Sunday morning. You are not joking when you say they are slippery. I nearly end up in the lake with the camera and the bird. Great to see the bird and managed to get a few shots in the 2 minutes that it wandered in close to the shore. The place was like a Canon showroom on Sunday with long lens on tripods everywhere and people running up and down as the bird dived and surfaced. I adopted a simpler method of the beanbag on the railings :)

Cheers

Rich

[Schnauzer]

Good work Alan. Sound like you were lucky to get the shots with out going for a swim.

Loons are all over the place here. When we go down the river in a boat we have to be careful we don't run one down just as its surfaceing.

[alanhill]

Check out Rich's photos. He had beautiful light and his long lens has produced some cracking shots. They 'feel' very different from mine.
I must show this shot of my companion on the jetty: a turnstone. Note the way that the slippery wet wood has some very slippery algae growing on it, and then extra lubrication and decoration from the seagull droppings ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/alanhill/Birds/WestKirby016_047.jpg

Alan