Photography

A bird bonanza in the 2022 Audubon Photo Awards

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Amateur Winner. Western Grebe. Calero Reservoir, San Jose, California, USA. Within minutes of hatching, baby grebes climb onto the back of their parent who then swims away carrying them, taking on the role of a new living, floating nest
Peter Shen/Audubon Photography Awards
Amateur Winner. Western Grebe. Calero Reservoir, San Jose, California, USA. Within minutes of hatching, baby grebes climb onto the back of their parent who then swims away carrying them, taking on the role of a new living, floating nest
Peter Shen/Audubon Photography Awards
Amateur Honorable Mention. Common Raven. Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Adult ravens form long-term monogamous pairs, and pairs stay together year-round, seeming to communicate with each other by using a wide variety of calls and nonvocal signals.
Ankur Khurana/Audubon Photography Awards
Female Bird Prize. Greater Sage-Grouse. Fremont County, Wyoming. This big bird, our largest native grouse, is found almost entirely in habitats dominated by various species of sagebrush.
Alan Krakauer/Audubon Photography Awards
Grand Prize Winner. Costa Mesa, California, USA. Training session for the juvenile white-tailed kite (the colorful one at the bottom). Dad brought in a freshly caught vole. He suspended in the air for the newly fledged baby to catch the prey in midair.
Jack Zhi/Audubon Photography Awards
Professional Award Winner. White-tailed Ptarmigan. Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. Beautifully adapted to the cold, ptarmigan thrive year-round in harsh conditions of the Arctic and high mountains where few birds could survive
Liron Gertsman/Audubon Photography Awards
Professional Honorable Mention. Sharp-tailed Grouse. Thompson-Nicola, British Columbia, Canada. On a lek, male Sharp-tailed Grouse gather in impressive numbers – sometimes 50 or more – and dance to attract the attention of females
Liron Gertsman/Audubon Photography Awards
Plants For Birds Award. Nashville Warbler. Blue Sea, Quebec, Canada. The Nashville Warbler’s name reflects an era when bird migration was poorly understood
Shirley Donald/Audubon Photography Awards
Plants For Birds Honorable Mention. Hawai‘i ‘Amakihi. Haleakalā National Park, Maui, Hawai‘i. Hawai‘i once had nearly 40 species of honeycreepers, a distinct group of finches unique to these islands. Almost half are now extinct, and most remaining species are endangered
Warren Johnson/Audubon Photography Awards
Youth Award. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck. Farm 13/Stick Marsh, Indian River County, Florida. Whistling ducks make up a highly distinctive group of lanky, long legged, longnecked waterfowl. Unlike typical ducks, males and females look the same, and both sexes incubate eggs and tend to young
Jayden Preussner/Audubon Photography Awards
Youth Honorable Mention. Greater Prairie-Chicken. Fort Pierre National Grassland, Fort Pierre, South Dakota. The sound from a large booming ground could carry more than two miles across the grasslands
Amiel Hopkins/Audubon Photography Awards
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For anyone with even a passing interest in ornithology, the annual Audubon Photography Awards is like Christmas in July. Now in its 13th year, the contest consistently delivers a spectacular collection of images highlighting rarely photographed bird behaviors.

Formed over a century ago, the National Audubon Society has hundreds of chapters across the United States. Named after John Audubon, a 19th century artist known for his iconic illustrations of birds, the society’s annual photography contest focuses on the incredible breadth of bird behavior across North America.

Grand Prize Winner. Costa Mesa, California, USA. Training session for the juvenile white-tailed kite (the colorful one at the bottom). Dad brought in a freshly caught vole. He suspended in the air for the newly fledged baby to catch the prey in midair.
Jack Zhi/Audubon Photography Awards

This year’s Grand Prize winning shot is a stunningly timed snap of white-tailed kite dropping the fruits of a successful hunt into the talons of its fledgling. Amateur photographer Jack Zhi had been studying the behavior of these raptors for three years before he caught this magnificent sight in close-up.

“It’s difficult to get the action, the distance, the weather and lighting, the angles of the individuals all right at the same time,” Zhi said. “Not to mention they may start from a clear view and quickly move behind trees. The food transfer happened in a fraction of a second.”

Amateur Honorable Mention. Common Raven. Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Adult ravens form long-term monogamous pairs, and pairs stay together year-round, seeming to communicate with each other by using a wide variety of calls and nonvocal signals.
Ankur Khurana/Audubon Photography Awards

Another impressive shot came from photographer Ankur Khurana, capturing a beautifully intimate moment between two common ravens. These birds are known for forming long-term monogamous pairs and often behave in ways we would interpret as signs of affection.

“As we walked away, the ravens continued to indulge in playful displays on the ground and in flight,” Khurana said. “We’d seen ravens, and proof of their obvious intelligence, hundreds of times, but this raven encounter is one that will be hard to beat.”

Take a look through our gallery at more highlights from this year’s fantastic set of winners.

Source: Audubon

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