This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you'll be able to go to the hyperlink bellow: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-20-breathtaking-bird-images-from-the-audubon-photography-awards-capture-the-wonder-of-the-winged-world-180989436/and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us [ad_1] The winners of the seventeenth annual contest reveal the fantastic thing about birds, the splendor of their migratory journeys and the dangers they face Carlyn Kranking | Associate Web Editor, Science September 2, 2026 3:48 p.m. The annual contest highlights not solely birds however their behaviors, habitats and threats. Rodrigo González Pairoa / Audubon Photography Awards From a seabird flying above an erupting volcano to a woodpecker with its face plunged right into a flower, the winners of the seventeenth Audubon Photography Awards rejoice birds, the locations they go and the unimaginable ways in which they survive. Today, the National Audubon Society shared the winners and honorable mentions of its annual contest, which acknowledges images and movies of fowl habits. For its first 15 years, the competitors was solely open to residents of the United States and Canada. Last yr, the nonprofit added a parallel competitors for photographers in Chile and Colombia—two international locations that “host some of the world’s most astounding avian biodiversity,” wrote the editors of Audubon journal final yr. Incorporating elements of South America into the competitors highlights “how birds connect people across geographies and ecosystems,” in accordance with a press release from the National Audubon Society. Separate panels of judges assessed the entries for every of the 2 areas. “The judges loved the action, drama and striking lighting” within the grand prize-winning shot for the U.S. and Canada contest, as Mary Anne Karren, a contest decide and wildlife photographer, tells Audubon magazine. The successful picture, captured by photographer Jacqueline Burke, encompasses a roseate spoonbill bathing. It’s “an unusual take on a popular species,” Karren provides, because the birds are sometimes imaged whereas foraging. In the Chile and Colombia contest, the grand prize winner additionally captures a spectacular fowl: a lesser horned owl. “Set against a dimly lit backdrop, the captivating gaze of this majestic owl’s intense yellow eyes stands out against its snow-white face, creating a fairy-tale atmosphere,” decide Sebastian Herzog, Audubon’s protected areas technique director for Latin America and the Caribbean, tells Audubon. Beyond the grand prizes, the judges picked winners throughout wide-ranging classes that honor not simply birds however many elements of their ecology. The “birds without borders” class exhibits the far-flung locations that host migratory species, whereas “plants for birds” highlights the significance of their habitats. One prize even acknowledges feminine birds, which are usually neglected in wildlife pictures and science alike. The following 20 images are this yr’s class winners, together with a couple of honorable mentions. Audubon will share the highest 100 photographs from the competition on September 23. Until then, check out the biodiversity and wonder captured in these counseled images. Grand prize, Chile and Colombia: Patagonia’s largest and most powerful owl sat quietly on a cactus in Paposo Natural Preserve in Antofagasta, Chile. The photographer slowly approached the fowl, hiding behind vegetation as he went, in an try and keep away from disturbing it. Only when he had gotten shut sufficient to see the creature in his viewfinder did it turn out to be clear what he’d discovered: a powerful lesser horned owl. Francisco Castro Escobar / Audubon Photography Awards Grand prize, U.S. and Canada: Amid a vibrant and vigorous rookery, the place wading birds collect to nest, a roseate spoonbill splashes and bathes, lit by a sunbeam. Here, at Florida’s St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, the alligators deter animals that may in any other case prey on fowl eggs or hatchlings. Jacqueline Burke / Audubon Photography Awards Youth, Chile and Colombia, winner: The migratory Canada warbler “rarely stays still,” decide Herzog tells Audubon, however on this second, an grownup male is captured in crisp focus because it pauses to stare at a spiderweb. Juan David Camacho Márquez / Audubon Photography Awards Youth, U.S. and Canada, winner: “Most days, I dismissed pigeons as too common to document,” photographer Ian Shultz tells Audubon. But when he noticed a bunch of rock pigeons flying out and in from beneath an outdated pier in Seattle’s Puget Sound, accumulating nesting materials, he did an uncommon factor and skilled his lens on them. “The experience taught me a lesson: Even common birds can produce the day’s most striking image.” Ian Shultz / Audubon Photography Awards Female fowl, winner: A feminine common merganser carries a flatfish to guard her catch from different mergansers that had been feeding close by in Nova Scotia, Canada. Gail Bisson / Audubon Photography Awards Birds in landscapes, U.S. and Canada, winner: White-tailed tropicbirds made their nests within the caldera partitions of Kīlauea volcano in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Photographer Liron Gertsman spent ten days ready for the precise second, and when the volcano erupted, he captured this seabird amid the gases, ash and lava. Liron Gertsman / Audubon Photography Awards Birds in landscapes, Colombia, winner: An oilbird flies by darkness in Colombia’s Guácharos Cave National Natural Park. The nocturnal species, domestically known as the guácharo, lives in caves by day and emerges at night time to feed on fruit, navigating with echolocation. Faber Mosquera Alvarez / Audubon Photography Awards Birds in landscapes, Chile, winner: Two crested caracaras stand collectively in Torres del Paine National Park within the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica area. The birds of prey belong to the falcon household, however they scavenge from carrion like vultures do, along with looking. Timothy Dhalleine / Audubon Photography Awards Birds in landscapes, U.S. and Canada, honorable point out: A great blue heron stands amongst cypress bushes within the Caddo Lake Wildlife Management Area in Karnak, Texas. Jay Vanos / Audubon Photography Awards Birds with out borders, Chile and Colombia, winner: With a tilt of its head, a black-browed albatross makes eye contact with the digicam in Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica. “The resulting image captures a fleeting moment of silent, intimate connection,” photographer Rodrigo González Pairoa tells Audubon. Rodrigo González Pairoa / Audubon Photography Awards Birds with out borders, U.S. and Canada, winner: A Tennessee warbler perches on an elderberry department amid looking flying ants in photographer and wildlife biologist Nick Parayko’s yard in Alberta, Canada. Nick Parayko / Audubon Photography Awards Birds with out borders, U.S. and Canada, honorable point out: Brown pelicans collect on Cannon Beach, Oregon, offering a vigorous foreground to the towering Haystack Rock. Erich Podbielski / Audubon Photography Awards Plants for birds Colombia, winner: Wax palm bushes present each a nesting habitat and a buffet for yellow-eared parrots, which occupy holes made by woodpeckers and feast on the vegetation’ small, reddish fruits. Here, two of the parrots preen one another. Santiago Giraldo / Audubon Photography Awards Plants for birds, U.S. and Canada, winner: A feminine gila woodpecker sticks her head right into a flower on a saguaro cactus in Tucson, Arizona. These flowers solely keep open for a few day and a half, supporting pollinators like bats and birds. Mike Henry / Audubon Photography Awards Plants for birds, Colombia, honorable point out: At Alto del Zarzo in Caldas, Colombia, a golden-rumped euphonia builds its nest with mosses and lichens. The birds additionally love mistletoe, which supplies them with berries for meals. David Paredes Bravo / Audubon Photography Awards Plants for birds, U.S. and Canada, honorable point out: A Brandt’s cormorant carries surfgrass in Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz, California. The species depends on these marine flowering vegetation to construct its nests, “linking the health of the nearshore ocean to their success on land,” photographer Kevin Lohman tells Audubon. Lohman panned his digicam and slowed his shutter velocity to create this partially blurred composition. Kevin Lohman / Audubon Photography Awards Conservation, U.S. and Canada, winner: Northern gannets nest on the cliffs of the Isle of Noss within the United Kingdom’s Shetland Islands. Here, one has been killed by a chunk of fishing line tangled round its neck, highlighting the chance of air pollution to birds. “This species already faces many challenges, including climate change and disease; only the year before my visit, avian flu had decimated the colony,” photographer Josh Galicki tells Audubon. “I took this image as a reminder of one more obstacle we put in the way of this charismatic species.” Josh Galicki / Audubon Photography Awards Conservation, Chile and Colombia, winner: A yellow-eared parrot sits atop a wax palm tree trunk on the Anaime River Canyon in Tolima, Colombia. Nearby, avocado plantations encroach on among the final wax palm forests within the nation. Santiago Pérez Rincón / Audubon Photography Awards Coastal birds of Chile, winner: A gentoo penguin swims close to a Chilean Navy vessel within the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica area. Gonzalo Bertolotto Quintana / Audubon Photography Awards Coastal birds of Chile, honorable point out: A red-legged cormorant flies in entrance of a vibrant sky, seen by a pure rock arch. Marcelo Cárcamo Vera / Audubon Photography Awards Get the newest tales in your inbox each weekday. [ad_2] This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you'll be able to go to the hyperlink bellow: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-20-breathtaking-bird-images-from-the-audubon-photography-awards-capture-the-wonder-of-the-winged-world-180989436/and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us