The National Audubon Society has announced the winners of the 2025 Audubon Photography Awards. And in its 16th year, it has expanded to budding photographers capturing wildlife in Chile and Colombia, and offers new prizes for snappers capturing the subject matter of migratory species, habitats, and conservation.
"North America has lost three billion birds since 1970, and more than 500 bird species are at risk of extinction across Latin America and the Caribbean," the National Audubon Society said in a statement. "Birds act as early warning systems about the health of our environment, and they tell us that birds – and our planet – are in crisis."
For the first time, judges awarded nine prizes to Chile and Colombia residents, and eight more for US and Canada locals. The year also celebrates a new category – Birds Without Borders – that focuses on birds with migratory paths that cross international boundaries, and the Conservation Prize. Well known categories, like the Grand Prize, Birds in Landscapes Prize, Youth Prize, Plants for Birds Prize, Female Bird Prize, and Video Prize, all returned this year.
Chile and Colombia has become a new area of interest for the awards, due to both countries' biodiverse landscapes and seabird populations. And seabirds that migrate between these countries and North America face intense environmental challenges, and many of these birds – including the royal tern, snow goose and blackburnian warbler are featured among these images.
The Grand Prize Winner from these South American countries was Felipe Esteban Toledo Alarcón for his dazzling capture of a ringed kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata), pictured above.
The National Audubon Society works to protect these birds from the double threat of climate change and biodiversity loss, and this year the acclaimed photography awards highlight this story of hemispheric bird conservation and how connected people are in different countries due to the wonder of bird migration.
"The National Audubon Society is a nonprofit conservation organization that protects birds and the places they need today and tomorrow," the organization noted. "We work throughout the Americas towards a future where birds thrive because Audubon is a powerful, diverse, and ever-growing force for conservation. Audubon has more than 700 staff working across the hemisphere and more than 1.5 million active supporters."
"Together as one Audubon, we are working to alter the course of climate change and habitat loss, leading to healthier bird populations and reversing current trends in biodiversity loss," the team added.
Here are a few of our highlights – for more, see our gallery.
2025 Plants for Birds Winner, United States and Canada
Californian resident Barbara Swanson snapped this elegant Brandt's cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) with a beakful of red grape algae and seagrass. The largest species of cormorant on the US Pacific Coast, these marine birds can dive deep below the ocean surface to catch fish and shellfish.
2025 Birds Without Borders Winner, Chile and Colombia
Jacobo Giraldo Trejos became the competition's first-ever winner of the Birds Without Borders category, for his shot of royal terns (Thalasseus maximus) at mealtime on San Andrés Island, Colombia. This population of birds breed at nesting sites spanning California to Mexico and the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, and spend winters in South America, from Brazil to Peru.
2025 Grand Prize Winner, United States and Canada
Canadian native Liron Gertsman took this eerily beautiful photo of a magnificent frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) flyover, beneath clouds and the Sun in Teacapán, Mexico. These birds have a rather unique foraging trick – they'll chase other birds and harass them until they regurgitate recently consumed food, which the frigatebirds will then snatch and eat mid-air.
2025 Conservation Winner, United States and Canada
Maine native Jean Hall took this image of a curious – and apparently somewhat perturbed – burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) on Marco Island, Florida. It looks like it's taken up residence in a rustic tiny home; these owls are primarily terrestrial, and they live underground in burrows they've either dug or taken over from a prairie dog.
2025 Coastal Birds Chile Honorable Mention, Chile and Colombia
Normally graceful, these two black-necked stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) were captured in an amusing pose by Santiago snapper Solange Sepulveda in Papudo, Chile. The male balances on the female's back and spreads his wings, showing just how flexible those stilt legs are. These stunning shorebirds can be found along North and South American coastlines and wetlands.
For more, visit Audubon’s website for details on the Chile and Colombia and US and Canada contests, as well as information about Audubon Americas and Audubon’s Plants for Birds program.
Source: National Audubon Society
