The Grand Prize winner for 2022 is this photo of White-tailed kites by Jack Zhi.
The Grand Prize winner for 2022 is this photo of White-tailed kites by Jack Zhi.
It took three years of work and a fraction of a second to snatch the Grand Prize-winning shot in the 2022 Audubon Photography Awards.
"I studied White-tailed Kite behaviour for three years before I got this close-up," said amateur photographer Jack Zhi. "It was a challenge to get the action, distance, lighting, and angles of the individuals all right at the same time."
The image was taken with at a focal length of 1200mm at just 3200th of a second - a moment that requires enormous preparation.
"The father, who teaches his fledglings to hunt, held a vole in his talons. The fledgling flew in and, in a blink, grabbed the rodent as the father let go. Wildlife does spectacular things—people walk by without even knowing."
Zhi's image, taken in Costa Mesa, California, stood out to the judges from the 10,000 photographs and video clips submitted by 2500 photographers across the United States and Canada in the 13th year of the awards as an example of preparation, timing and true dedication.
Northern shoverlers by Steve Jessmore won the Fisher prize.
The Audubon Society is one of America's leading conservation groups dedicated to bird life and their environments. For over a century Audubon has worked to save birds through conservation and advocacy firmly grounded in science. They commission and promote research and analysis to support the development of conservation programmes, building authority as a science-led thought leader and to inform decision-makers and stakeholders to further conservation aims.
Peter Shen's Western Grebes brought back happy memories of siblings with mum in the middle.
Many of the photography awards entrants are amateurs: three of the five category winners have day jobs, which highlights the dedication these photographers have to birds and their conservation.
Peter Shen's shot of Western Grebes in the Calero Reservoir, San Jose, California, won the Amateur section and is another example of long-lens photography illustrating the patience and preparation that goes into making these amazing pictures.
"I was hiking on a narrow, rocky trail when I saw a Western Grebe with two chicks on her back," Shen said. "I unpacked my gear and knelt at the shore's edge.
"A male arrived with a fish and passed it to the mom, who turned to face me and made eye contact. I quickly laid flat on the gravel, bird droppings all around, but I didn't care.
"My heart pounded. One chick got hold of the fish, but the second bit onto the other end. They tugged, back and forth, until the second chick won.
"The rivalry brought back happy memories of my siblings, our mom in the middle."
This White-tailed Ptarmigan photo by Liron Gertsman won the Professional award.
Liron Gertsman won the Professional Photo and the Video awards for his image of a White-tailed Ptarmigan in the Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada.
"I've spent countless hikes searching for the elusive 'mountain chicken', also known as the White-tailed Ptarmigan, to no avail," Gertsman said. "On this day, after a couple of hours, I stumbled right onto some.
"The small group was so well camouflaged I didn't notice it until movement caught my eye. Wanting to capture these remarkable birds in the context of their domain, I put on a wider lens and sat down. They continued to forage at close range, and I captured this image of an individual posing in front of the stunning mountains."
Gertsman also took out the video prize for his entry featuring Sharp-tailed Grouse in the Thompson-Nicola district of British Columbia, Canada.
Recently, much of their work has been focused on climate change and the specific threats faced by bird life in a rapidly changing world.
Shirley Donald won the Plants for Birds category with her Nashville warbler and scarlet bee balm photo.
The society advocates specific planting regimes to encourage bird life attracted by insects drawn to the vegetation and to the pollen and seeds provided by the plants themselves.
Shirley Donald of Blue Sea in Quebec, Canada, won the Plants for Birds award with her shot of a Nashville Warbler.
"I planted a scarlet bee balm beneath my office window. Over several years it spread, the mass of flowers blooming midsummer in time to feed juvenile hummingbirds," she said. "Once the flowers are spent, the seedheads shelter insects and attract snails. Birds inspect them and feast off their finds.
"With my camera on a tripod, lens poking through a hole in the mesh I use to screen my open window, I'm ready for any opportunity—such as this warbler snatching a tiny snail."
Youth Award winner: A Black-bellied whistling duck by Jayden Preussner.
By engaging the wider public through programmes such as the photography awards, Audubon hope to communicate the existential threat to the environment and birds in particular through human activity.
The full gallery of winners and the top 100 entries can be seen at www.audubon.org
