Feathered wonders! The winners of Bird Photographer of the Year contest soar to new heights
From an adorable picture of a pair of embracing Atlantic puffins to a poignant shot of a little owlet playing in a dumping ground, these images were selected as winners in the world’s largest bird photography competition, which saw more than 20,000 entries
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Beads of Diamonds: The perfect moment when a Great Northern Diver surfaced with perfect hydrodynamic lines of water droplets adorning its head from beak to neck. They looked like glimmering beads of diamonds framing its ruby-red eye. Then, when I looked closely, I noted that the reflection in its eye was a ruby mirror of the trees on the lake shoreline. Image Courtesy: Sue Dougherty/Bird Photographer of the Year
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Rock Ptarmigan Flight: High above the tree-line, the wind, snow and cold maintain the iron grip of winter for months on end. This is where rock ptarmigan thrive, small white feather-balls in an endless white landscape. On this particular winter day, the photographer was on his way to a mountaintop by Tysfjorden in Norway to photograph landscapes. He had almost reached the summit when he spotted some ptarmigan tracks criss-crossing between the rocks. From behind a rock, a small head appeared, and seconds later it took to wing with the mountains and fjord landscape in the background, setting the scene perfectly. Image Courtesy: Erlend Haarberg/Bird Photographer of the Year
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Duelling on the Lek: During the spring breeding season, male Sage Grouse gather on traditional lekking sites and often engage in short but violent fights. I set up my ground hide a safe distance from the lek a couple of days before the photo shoot. I entered my hide in the middle of the night, trying to sleep as best I could before the early-morning hours. At first light I awoke to booming sounds made by the male grouse, and the sight of their unusual display and this particular battle. Image Courtesy: Peter Ismert/Bird Photographer of the Year
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The owlet and the dump: Bottles, glass, plastic, jugs, car tyres, derelict furniture. These discarded items are not what we usually think of as typical Barred Owl habitat. Nevertheless, this was exactly what one family was obliged to tolerate. The owlets bathe and play around the creek, which unfortunately is where rubbish is dumped and accumulates. While I was watching the scene, one of the owlets even picked up a large rusty screw and ‘played’ with it as if it were a twig. At one point it looked right at me as if to say, ‘What have you done to my home?’ The ravine is, but shouldn’t be, a dumping ground and this scene broke my heart. Image Courtesy: Kerry Wu/Bird Photographer of the Year
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Starling at night: This image was taken using flash, with the camera in rear curtain synch mode. To attract the Common Starling, I placed some sunflower seeds in a feeder, and as the bird came towards the feeder, I timed the shot to capture its descent. Timing was critical, as was the need to balance the flash with the ambient light so you could see the trail of the starling while the flash ‘froze’ the bird in flight. Image Courtesy: Mark Williams/Bird Photographer of the Year
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Facing the storm: Last autumn, I spent a week on the tiny North Sea island of Heligoland. The weather was quite bad and I didn’t see a single nice sunrise. However, the opportunity to observe all kind of shorebirds made up for the conditions. When I saw a group of Dunlin struggling with a small sandstorm, I decided to risk my equipment and attempt to photograph them. I could really see on their faces how annoyed they were by the wind and sand flying everywhere. Image Courtesy: Levi Fitze/Bird Photographer of the Year
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Droplets: In Fremont, there is a water fountain that is a hotspot for hummingbirds. The birds like to bathe in the water, or in this case catch and sip the droplets. When the birds fly around among the droplets, it provides great opportunities for photography. Image Courtesy: Parham Pourahmad/Bird Photographer of the Year
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Gonzo: This image was taken in Transylvania in Romania, not far from one of my favourite Natura 2000 sites. Last year, I arrived at the building following heavy rain and discovered that the Little Owl family had grown: three chicks had hatched a few weeks previously. To my relief, I was ‘welcomed’ by the whole family, and while four of them were drying their feathers on the roof, one of the chicks was under it, posing in an odd way and with what looked like an air of resignation. To my eyes I could see a resemblance to Gonzo, the famous character from The Muppet Show. Image Courtesy: Laszlo Potozky/Bird Photographer of the Year
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Sandhill Crane flight team air show: Last October, I went to San Francisco in California to watch the spectacle of the annual US Navy Blue Angels military air show. The performance was wonderful, and I took a lot of photos. Inspired by the aerobatic skills of the Blue Angels, I decided to incorporate a formation of Sandhill Cranes into the scene, and created this image using several pictures that I blended and combined. Image Courtesy: Wei Lian/Bird Photographer of the Year
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Puffin love: As the morning sun glistens over the surface of the ocean below, a pair of Atlantic Puffins beautifully stationed on a dramatic cliff edge reinforce the intimate bond that exists between them. Image Courtesy: Brad James/Bird Photographer of the Year
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Strut performer: You know that springtime has arrived on the prairies of the Great Basin of the American West when the Sage Grouse gather at their leks. On these traditional display grounds, males of this Near Threatened species perform their strutting displays in the hope of winning the right to mate. Image Courtesy: Ly Dang/Bird Photographer of the Year
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Guillemot swimmers: Common Guillemots (Common Murres) are incredible freedivers – so good, in fact, that studies have shown that of all flying birds, this humble species is the most efficient swimmer. It is bested in the water only by penguins, with which it shares similar stylistic traits. Image Courtesy: Henley Spiers/Bird Photographer of the Year
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