A red-kokanee day

HAYDEN LAKE — One moment, the photographers on the shores of Hayden Lake are joking, laughing and smiling early Wednesday afternoon.

The next, they leap into action. Faces turn serious. Cameras with long lenses aim skyward.

“Incoming,” someone shouts.

Cameras track the osprey as it folds its wings, dives toward the water and hits the surface with a splash.

After a brief struggle, the osprey emerges with a red kokanee in its talons. It powerfully flaps its wings and begins to glide just above the water before angling higher and heading for trees.

Each movement of the raptor was captured by photographers from around the country, some shooting more than 100 frames per second.

Larry Krumpelman of Post Falls was among them. The key, he said, is to focus on the osprey’s eyes.

“That’s what you want. The eye is the most important part of the picture," Krumpelman said. "Get that eye sharp. And if you can get it with a sparkle in it, with the sun hitting it, reflecting, that’s even better."

Time is short to get that shot.

Because for a brief window, perhaps two weeks, kokanee spawn in Hayden Lake, usually starting in late August and continuing into early September.

For osprey, it’s meal time.

For photographers, it’s a rare opportunity to shoot an osprey carrying off a red salmon.

“It’s not like eagle season,” said another local photographer. “It’s the rarity. That’s why we come out.”

They’ve been gathering at a small spot just off the dike road near the spillway by Honeysuckle Beach.

The other day, a photographer counted eight osprey, one bald eagle and more than 70 cameras.

Some days are good, with osprey putting on a show, soaring high and low, almost teasing the photographers who hope they’ll dive for kokanee.

Photographers sit, stand, walk around, eat and wait for some 12 hours a day. A camaraderie develops between them.

For most, it’s a hobby. For some, it’s a living.

Cameras rest on tripods or on laps, some with camouflage-covered large lenses that bring their subjects up close.

They aren’t wild about publicity of what they’re doing or where they are for fear it will attract attention and make things more difficult.

“Too many people come and it gets really crowded,” said Greg Syverson of Vancouver, Wash. “Nobody wants to exploit this.”

He was on vacation in North Idaho when he saw osprey and heard about the narrow window to photograph them snaring spawning kokanee.

Three years ago, he arrived too early.

Two years ago, he was too late.

This year, he timed it right.

Syverson loves photography, but also enjoys getting to know people who share his passion.

“We all learn a little bit from each other,” he said. “You learn a lot. It’s like a free class.”

Bob Carroll of Cocolalla was settled comfortably in a chair on the shoreline, camera in hand. A wildlife photographer who visits Montana often, he’s been coming to this spot for a few years.

He said Sunday “was a bust,” with only two osprey all day.

“Otherwise, it’s been pretty good,” Carroll said. “But maybe people are pickier than I am.”

He wants a nice profile of an osprey with a red kokanee when he’s “not getting a butt shot,” rather, flying toward him.

Carroll, too, likes the company of his colleagues.

“Everybody is nice to you. Other places, they throw rocks at you,” he said, laughing. “I’m just joking.”

Amber Favorite flew out from Florida to take in a few concerts and to take pictures of the osprey and kokanee in North Idaho for the first time.

She heard about this photo op through word of mouth and social media and said the trip was worth it. She said there are osprey in Florida, but not kokanee like the ones that spawn in Hayden Lake.

“You don’t get that red,” she said.

Favorite likes to travel and be in the outdoors, photographing wildlife to “showcase for the world what other people can’t see."

"My favorite to shoot is raptors, birds of prey," she said.

Krumpelman said he was among the very first to photograph the osprey claiming colorful kokanee in Hayden Lake about 20 years ago.

Initially, only a few folks with cameras showed up. But as the years passed, their numbers grew.

“Word gets around,” he said.

Krumpelman said, while many kokanee spawn in the cove before him, most spawn at Hayden Creek at the other end of the lake.

“You go up there to the creek this time of year, you’ll look down in the creek, it’s just solid red,” he said.

So why not take pictures there?

“We don’t want them running up the stream. We want them catching fish,” Krumpelman said.

As well, a red kokanee makes a far prettier picture than a spawning black kokanee like those in Lake Coeur d’Alene sought by bald eagles come winter.

“This one just jumps out at you," he said, displaying one of his pictures.

Krumpelman plans to keep coming to this spot.

“Once you get into photography, you always want to get that perfect shot,” the 82-year-old said.

Each night, he reviews his work. Some pictures are good, he said, but never quite good enough.

“You still strive for that one more that’s going to outdo that one. That’s always what it is. It’s a challenge.”