Soaring Winners of the 2022 Bird Photographer of the Year Competition

Attention to Detail, Bronze Award Winner – Sue Dougherty, “Beads of Diamonds.” © Sue Dougherty | Bird Photographer of the Year
“I spent some time in the Cariboo region of British Columbia photographing a very accommodating family of Common Loons (or Great Northern Divers as they are known in Europe). Using a boat with low sides and an electric motor, I was able to observe and photograph the birds without disrupting or affecting their behaviour. As I floated in silence, I watched the parent divers feed leeches and tiny fish to their chick – just days old – and they were unconcerned by my presence. In fact, the adults actually approached the boat and made repeated dives under and around it. I was able to capture the moment this one surfaced with perfect hydrodynamic lines of water droplets adorning its head from beak to neck. They looked like glimmering beads of diamonds framing its ruby-red eye. Then, when I looked closely, I noted that the reflection in its eye was a ruby mirror of the trees on the lake shoreline.”