Bird Photographer of the Year Award 2020: Amazing images from around the world
- Published
Majed Ali's End of the Day photograph, showing a European Shag taken in Vardo, Norway, won Best Portrait Gold and was the Overall Winner too. Majed said: "I took this shot in April 2019 while on a visit to the famous Norwegian seabird island of Vardo, a location packed full of birds that provide endless opportunities for photography. It was my first visit to the island, one that was prompted by hearing about its birdlife. Despite being forewarned, I was really amazed by what I saw: hundreds of birds flying all the time, all day during the five days we visited."
17-year-old Adam Lake won the overall Young Bird Photographer of the Year Award for this photo of a mute swan taken with his phone! He said "I stood and observed the swan, which seemed to make it curious. As I was volunteering, I didn’t have my camera to hand, so I grabbed my phone and lay down on the tow path. This interested the swan, which slowly swam towards me cocking its head to the side. I took this photo from my low position on the tow path. My position enabled me to capture the mirror-like image and the surrounding scenery."
Deeksha Diya Sambath, age 7, from India won the 0-8 category with this image of an Asian green bee-eater. Deeksha said: "My dad is a bird photographer and has been my inspiration; I love to accompany him on his weekend photography outings. This pair of Asian green bee-eaters are regular visitors to our backyard. I just love the colour of these birds and how they catch the bees in mid-air. I took this photograph from the car with my dad’s camera."
This photo by Ismael Domínguez Gutierrez, 11, won in his age group. This crested tit is perched on a twig, preparing to take a bath. The image was taken in the late afternoon as the sun’s rays added a warmth to the colours. "By back-lighting the subject I was able to enhance the effect," he said.
This photo of a gannet diving to fish for sardines won the silver in the Bird Behaviour Award. Every year, vast shoals of sardines migrate along the South African coast and attract all manner of predators – everything from dolphins and other large fish beneath the water, to seabirds diving from above. Photographer Greg LeCour says it took eight visits to South Africa before I was able to take this perfect shot.
Georgina Steytler from Australia won the best portfolio prize for a series of photos of six images of Australian birds. One of them was this great crested grebe. Georgina spent a week observing their behaviour around breeding time, lying by lake shore in Perth. This bird spied another grebe coming too close and was taking off to shoo the intruder away from his territory.
Francesco Filippo Pellegrini took this amazing snap of great dusky swifts at the world famous Iguazu Falls in Argentina. It won the gold medal for Bird in the Environment. Francesco said: "In Iguazu’s unique environment, the ‘swifts of the falls’ find the perfect shelter for breeding. While I was staring at a feature called the Devil’s Throat, I saw flocks of these birds flying all around. Due to the mist caused by the falls, I struggled taking this shot as I had to keep the front of the lens free of water drops."
Wow - check this out for cam-owl-flage! Moshe Cohen from Israel took this photo of an owl that lives near to his home. The Eurasian scops-owl is famously hard to spot as its plumage is a superb match for tree bark.
The image won silver in the Attention to Detail Award and you can see why. Mathias Putze took this shot of the feathers of an ocellated turkey inside the inside Tikal National Park in Guatemala
Chengbo Sun won the bronze medal for Creative Imagery for this picture of a little egret at Xiazhu Lake National Wetland Park in China’s Zhejiang province. The egret was preening, and Chengbo Sun combined this image with shots of lotus leaves in various stages of growth.