Experience the Wonder of Birds With These 11 Winning Photos From the Bird Photographer of the Year Contest

Smart News | September 23, 2026 9:22 a.m. From a greater sage-grouse performing a mating display to a tawny frogmouth making a funny face, these photographs capture the breathtaking diversity of the world’s avian species I’m Keeping Everyone Dry, bird behavior category winner: With its big, round eyes and cartoonish mouth, a fledgling tawny frogmouth stretches its wings and looks as though it is covering its siblings from the rain.© Donald Chin / Bird Photographer of the Year Experience the Wonder of Birds With These 11 Winning Photos From the Bird Photographer of the Year Contest From a greater sage-grouse performing a mating display to a tawny frogmouth making a funny face, these photographs capture the breathtaking diversity of the world’s avian species September 23, 2026 9:22 a.m. I’m Keeping Everyone Dry, bird behavior category winner: With its big, round eyes and cartoonish mouth, a fledgling tawny frogmouth stretches its wings and looks as though it is covering its siblings from the rain. © Donald Chin / Bird Photographer of the Year A northern gannet flies with a sharp focus, eyes peeled for the movement of prey underwater. When it locks in on a quarry—a school of fish, perhaps—the bird tucks its wings, turning its body into a diving torpedo. The predator then plummets into the water at more than 50 miles per hour. Sometimes, full flocks will descend upon the ocean, falling like drops of voracious rain. Photographer Henley Spiers of the United Kingdom witnessed this dramatic hunt off the shore of Scotland. His resulting shot earned the grand prize in this year’s Bird Photographer of the Year contest, which announced its results this week. Spiers’ photograph captures one of these streamlined birds entering the water, looking perfectly hydrodynamic with its wings tucked. Behind it, the sun lights a spot on the water’s surface. That “sunball” grabbed Spiers’ attention, he writes in an Instagram post. “I envisioned the shot of the gannet diving straight through the middle of it and dedicated my entire dive to capturing that single frame,” he adds. “The gannets were diving all around me, but I refused to be distracted and kept my camera pointed at the sun. After a long wait, a gannet finally dived through in the perfect spot, and I met the bird as it careened under the sea.” In comments on Instagram, Spiers notes that dead fish were used as bait to capture this photo, a fact that he says he made clear in his contest entry. Sunball Rocket, overall winner: A northern gannet plunges headfirst into the water in pursuit of prey. © Henley Spiers / Bird Photographer of the Year The Bird Photographer of the Year contest received more than 24,000 images from photographers across the globe. “Every image in the competition represents a real moment in the wild, earned through patience, dedication and a genuine connection with nature,” Will Nicholls, director of Bird Photographer of the Year, says in a statement. “In a world where A.I.-generated imagery is becoming increasingly common, this year’s winners are a powerful reminder of the value of authenticity.” The full gallery of recognized photographs and videos can be seen on the contest’s website, but here is a selection of the winners that reveal a close look into the often hidden moments in birds’ lives. Radiant, best portrait winner: Backlit by the rising sun, a male greater sage-grouse performs a courtship display at a lek, where the creatures gather to mate. © Thomas Deliberto / Bird Photographer of the Year I’m Keeping Everyone Dry, bird behavior category winner: With its big, round eyes and cartoonish mouth, a fledgling tawny frogmouth stretches its wings and looks as though it is covering its siblings from the rain. © Donald Chin / Bird Photographer of the Year Eye-to-Eye With a Short-Eared Owl, birds in flight category winner: Over the Fraser River Delta in Canada, a short-eared owl flies on a hunt, making eye contact with the camera. “This was a magical evening, with five owls feeding around me as dusk fell,” photographer Ivan Sjögren says in a statement. © Ivan Sjögren / Bird Photographer of the Year Sundance, creative perspectives category winner: A reflection on the shiny roof of a blue car turns into a watercolor-like scene with photographer Åsmund Keilen’s in-camera exposure. A common swift flies in front of the sun’s reflection, with drifting birch seeds appearing like other members of its flock. © Åsmund Keilen / Bird Photographer of the Year An Ostrich Horizon, black and white category winner: A lone ostrich walks toward a dry lakebed in Amboseli, Kenya, amid heat and dust. © Rahul Sachdev / Bird Photographer of the Year Not a Good Day Fishing, conservation category winner: Photographer Kent Stuart had waded into a mudflat in New Jersey, using a camouflage net to stay hidden from the wood ducks and sandpipers he wanted to photograph, when a great blue heron landed right next to him. “He was so close I could only get a head shot,” Stuart says in a statement. But the bird had a bobber and fishing line wrapped around its beak, highlighting the threats that fishing gear pose to wildlife. © Kent Stuart / Bird Photographer of the Year Alter Ego, urban birds category winner: A yellow-legged gull perches on a wall in Rome, mirroring the stance of a gull in an artwork on the wall. Locals had placed dry pet food on the wall to feed urban birds, a practice that became more common since Covid-19. © Gianluca Damiani / Bird Photographer of the Year Moonlit Night, youth overall winner: A great horned owl sits on a tree, silhouetted by the full moon. © Parham Pourahmad / Bird Photographer of the Year Sunset Puffin, best portrait category silver award: A puffin at the United Kingdom’s Skomer Island sits in the evening, backlit by reflections on the ocean. © Volker Widmann / Bird Photographer of the Year Back to Fishing, birds in the environment category bronze award: Gentoo penguins move through the water en masse, looking for fish. Photographer Romain Barats was snorkeling in Antarctica’s Charcot Bay when they “suddenly showed up,” he says in a statement. “These iconic birds are incredibly curious, so they went straight to me to evaluate if I could be a threat or not.” © Romain Barats / Bird Photographer of the Year You Might Also Like Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday. More about: Animals Birds Land Birds Nature Nature Photography Photographers Prey and Predators Scotland Sea Birds Wildlife