American Coot Photography

American Coot Photography Steve Begnoche's photography and writing have won many awards over 35 years. A love of the outdoors and the Great Lakes shows in this American Coot's work.

I was checking on a few loons I've been watching when these mergansers ran along the waterfront. There were a few more o...
04/12/2026

I was checking on a few loons I've been watching when these mergansers ran along the waterfront. There were a few more out of the frame, including another male. The two males were competing for the attention of the females, with this guy literally dancing on the water. The loons were busy fishing, hunkered low in the water in the distance, so the mergansers proved more photogenic. Pere Marquette Lake, Ludington, MI, 4-10-2026.

A friend, Deb Del Zoppo, told me about this leucistic red-tailed hawk in Pere Marquette Township. I was able to find it ...
04/10/2026

A friend, Deb Del Zoppo, told me about this leucistic red-tailed hawk in Pere Marquette Township. I was able to find it and caught it as it chased away a turkey vulture wanting to dine on the prize road kill the hawk was dining on. Other turkey vultures and a bald eagle circled overhead. Leucism results when the bird ability to produce melanin -- which makes the color in feathers (and in humans, skin) -- is inhibited so it takes on a mostly white appearance. It is not an albino, though. Still, a startling sight.

An April afterglow in Ludington, sunset over the Pere Marquette River at P.M. Twp. Conservation Park and sun lowering be...
04/08/2026

An April afterglow in Ludington, sunset over the Pere Marquette River at P.M. Twp. Conservation Park and sun lowering behind Lake Winds Energy Park wind turbine in Riverton Township. Getting itchy for spring weather. It's a time I roam the Mason County back roads. Always enjoyable. For tonight, 4-7-2026, I just shared the late evening sundown shots.

A fitting end to a chilly April evening and day that saw light rain, sunshine, wind-whipped snow flurries and finally mo...
04/07/2026

A fitting end to a chilly April evening and day that saw light rain, sunshine, wind-whipped snow flurries and finally more sunshine and freezing temperatures with wind chills in the teens. The light tower that followed sundown is a result of the sun light being reflected uowards byice crystals in the atmosphere. It's still early in spring, but a 60-degree sunset would be welcome. Photographed on the Lake Michigan beach at Ludington State Park, 4-6-2025.

Easter evening brought a bit of sunshine to the Ludington area. As I checked my lake and waterfront for who-knows-what I...
04/06/2026

Easter evening brought a bit of sunshine to the Ludington area. As I checked my lake and waterfront for who-knows-what I came across this solitary common loon cruising and diving for dinner in the Middle Bayou of Hamlin Lake. The low angle light lit up its red eye. I'm gald to see them back!

Have a blessed and enjoyable Easter!
04/05/2026

Have a blessed and enjoyable Easter!

The smallest falcon, the American kestrel, is a colorful bird easily overlooked when perched on a power line or utiliy p...
04/05/2026

The smallest falcon, the American kestrel, is a colorful bird easily overlooked when perched on a power line or utiliy pole along a roadside. This male was hanging out along First Street in Amber Township today. His reddish brown back was noticable against the sodden gray sky. Both of these images are cropped quite a bit and taken with a 600 mm lense to bring him into better vision -- for us, not for this little hunter of farm fields.

Another sign of spring is the return of loons to the area. Each spring in recent years, I look along the Pere Marquette ...
04/04/2026

Another sign of spring is the return of loons to the area. Each spring in recent years, I look along the Pere Marquette Lake front in Ludington for migrating loons. Usually I see one or more loons resting and feeding for a few days before moving on. A week ago today, 4-4-2026, I saw my first loon of the season on a shoreline of Bass Lake, north of Pentwater. Thursday, I spotted a common loon lounging at the entrance to the Ludington Municipal Marina just chillin' in the chilly rain. It ignored me. At one point it raised a leg ans stretched. Friday evening I spotted three in the lake between the marina and the SS Badger carferry, docked in Ludington until Ma 15 when it starts the 2026 season. A red-throated loon was seen earlier in the week along the P.M. shoreline. Friends report loons back at lakes in eastern Mason County. Sadly, the ones I saw only made quiet vocalizations. I'll have to wait to hear their call that, to me, speaks volumes of the best of the North woods. Enjoy!

Heading out on M-116 this evening, 3-31-2026, as the road turned to the west looking out at Lake Michigan, I spied what ...
04/01/2026

Heading out on M-116 this evening, 3-31-2026, as the road turned to the west looking out at Lake Michigan, I spied what turns out to be the Dirk S. Vanenvekort downbound on its way to Burns Harbor, Indiana. This image is from First Curve at Ludington State Park. It's good to see the shipping season back in swing on the Great Lakes. Ice is presenting problems in Lake Superior, but not here. For the record, most of the snow is gone, but I did see remains of a drift in a dune not too far from this vantage.

American bald eagles are common now, and I am glad of that. I enjoy seeing a bird that when I was a youth, was an extrem...
03/29/2026

American bald eagles are common now, and I am glad of that. I enjoy seeing a bird that when I was a youth, was an extremely rare sight because of DDT. Nature can heal itself if we give it a chance. Eagles and other raptors, now recovered, are proof of that. My wife and I came upon this one on Dewey Road in Hamlin Township, Michigan, on our way home from church. It was already enjoying its Sunday meal -- road-kill (I presume) squirrel spirited up into tree limbs above the road way. Look closely at the eyes in the photo of the eagle tearing at the squirrel. It shows the eagle nictitating, That's when a membrane comes over the eye, shadelike, to protect the eye. It also moistens and clears stuff from the eye.

Throughout the afternoon, rolls of clouds -- perhaps altostratus voluptus -- marched through the skies over Ludingon out...
03/27/2026

Throughout the afternoon, rolls of clouds -- perhaps altostratus voluptus -- marched through the skies over Ludingon out of the northwest. These images are from the beach at the end of Ludington Avenue, Lincoln Lake and the dunes in Ludington State Park and were made over approximately an hour as I moseyed up the Lake Michigan shoreline. I love the patterns they make and the not-so-hidden foreboding of something unpleasant to follow. They came in ahead of the cold front that brought snow flurries to my Hamlin Township home. After, a warm Wednesday, that qualifies as unpleasant. Any cloud experts out there -- Nathan Jeruzal, perhaps -- I'd appreciate a better ID.

Interesting clouds today.
03/26/2026

Interesting clouds today.

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3758 N. Lincoln Road
Ludington, MI
49431

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+12316900072

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