Once again the My Modern Met site has put up the finalists of the Bird Photographer of the Year contest, and they’re stunners—as usual. Click on the screenshot below to see ’em all. (h/t Malcolm)
Some background from the site:
Wildlife photographers take some of the most adventurous and exciting shots. The recently released 2021 finalists of the Bird Photographer of the Year Awards are no exception. From a confrontation between an enormous eagle and a fox to an adorable fluffy duckling exploring its pond, this year’s gallery is a collection of magical moments in the animal kingdom.
The Bird Photographer of the Year 2021 competition saw a stunning 22,000 entries from around the world. The hopeful photographers hailed from 73 countries. According to Will Nicholls, director of the competition, “The standard of photography was incredibly high, and the diversity in different species was great to see.” The final winning images in categories such as “Bird Behavior” and “Black and White” will be announced, alongside all winners, in September 2021. In addition to the Bird Photographer of the Year title, the ultimate winning photographer will take home a cash prize of £5,000 (~$6,900). The finalists—and other standout images from this year’s competition—will also be included in a fine art book available on the BPOTY website.
There are thirty photos in total, and I’ve chosen my favorite 8 (but it’s hard to choose!). Go see ’em all! The captions are from My Modern Met. And click on the photos to enlarge them.
“Great cormorant” by Irma Szabo. (Photo: © Irma Szabo/Bird Photographer of the Year)
“Fiery-throated Hummingbird” by Gail Bisson. (Photo: © Gail Bisson/Bird Photographer of the Year)
“Mallard duck” by Zdeněk Jakl. (Photo: © Zdeněk Jakl/Bird Photographer of the Year)
Untitled, by Gábor Li. (Photo: © Gábor Li/Bird Photographer of the Year)
“Red-billed oxpecker” by Daniela Anger. (Photo: © Daniela Anger/Bird Photographer of the Year)
“Black-and-white warbler” by Raymond Hennessy. (Photo: © Raymond Hennessy/Bird Photographer of the Year)
“Great grey owl” by Scott Suriano. (Photo: © Scott Suriano/Bird Photographer of the Year)
“White-tailed sea-eagle” by Fahad Alenezi. (Photo: © Fahad Alenezi/Bird Photographer of the Year)
The screenshot link seems broken … (?)
Great photos, as always. Miraculous, really.
Link is now fixed.
I think these are my favourites, too. I don’t have much with the silhoutte ones, as lovely as they are. The grey owl is fantastic.
On a bird note, we’ve been playing the game Wingspan (link to neutral Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingspan_(board_game) ) and it’s fantastic!
“[A]nd they’re stunners” – indeed! Very cute baby mallard, which reminds me that we haven’t had any news from Botany Pond for a little while…
The link isn’t working on my iPhone. I just get a blank page.
My bad. I’ve now added the link to the screenshot. Thanks for the heads-up.
If I had a vote, it would be for the duckling looking at the fly. Such brilliant detail.
That white-tailed sea-eagle must be huge!
The one I saw on Skye a while ago was.
If you follow the links to related pages at the bottom of the article there are more photos as good as these from different competitions.
A gannet, diving, I think. Or something imitating a gannet.
Damned clear water. Being able to see your fins is a good start, but that’s a lot better viz.
Amazing! We use to have cormorants around our pond and didn’t appreciate their fish eating, but the photo of the small catfish going down the cormorant’s bill head first is my favorite.