Last week, we featured some of the winners of this year’s Audubon Photography Awards, and today, the contest organizers were kind enough to share some of their Top 100 photographs from the thousands of entries depicting birdlife from all 50 U.S. states and nine Canadian provinces and territories.
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Neotropic Cormorant. The spiny fish has to go into the cormorant’s throat in just the right way: head first and lengthwise. This bird was tossing this fish in the air for more than an hour to put it on the right trajectory. Photo taken from a boat in Encontro das Águas State Park in Mato Grosso, Brazil. #
Pileated Woodpecker. Pileated woodpecker parents perch on either side of a nest hole in a dead tree, with at least three chicks inside. Photographed in Dunedin, Florida. #
Anna’s Hummingbird. In Port Townsend, Washington, an Anna’s hummingbird sips from a spray of water droplets above a water fountain. #
Burrowing Owl. Three burrowing owls peer over the top of a mound of dirt in Calipatria, California. #
Grasshopper Sparrow. A grasshopper sparrow perches in a chain-link fence. Photographed in Highgate, Vermont. #
Great Black-backed Gull. A close view of a gull at sunset in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. #
Red-crowned Crane. A pair of cranes dance in the snow at the Tsurui-Ito Crane Sanctuary in Hokkaido, Japan. #
Western Grebe. A western grebe mother swims as three chicks lean forward while riding on her back in Escondido, California. #
Purple Martin. Thousands of small purple martins fill the frame in a loose spiral against a dark blue sky at dusk in Nashville, Tennessee. #
King Penguin. An immense colony of fuzzy brown king penguin chicks congregates on the shore of South Georgia Island. #
Great Horned Owl. A great horned owl perches atop a bare tree branch in West Gardiner, Maine. #
Hooded Merganser. This hooded merganser swims in Mallard Lake in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, grasping a crawfish in its bill. #
Northern Flicker. A northern flicker stretches out its wings while preening on a fence post in Corunna, Ontario, Canada. #
Variable Oystercatcher. A variable oystercatcher walks through a field of bunny tail grass in Tawharanui Regional Reserve, New Zealand. #
Great Frigatebird. A close view of the bill and inflatable gular pouch of a great frigatebird. Photographed on Genovesa Island, Galápagos, Ecuador. #
Canada Goose. A pair of goslings run toward an adult Canada goose in Alexandria, Virginia. #
Osprey and Brown Pelican. A brown pelican swims with an osprey partially trapped in its bill and gular pouch. Photographed at Sebastian Inlet State Park in Sebastian, Florida. #
Ruby-throated Hummingbird. A ruby-throated hummingbird feeds on a bright red flower in Pembroke, Virginia. #
Greater and Lesser Prairie-Chicken. A pair of prairie-chickens fight outside of Hays, Kansas. #
Red-winged Blackbird. A red-winged blackbird sings while perched on an orange hibiscus stem in Alexandria, Virginia. #
Snow Goose. In Mount Vernon, Washington, a flock of snow geese takes flight. #
Purplish Jay. A purplish jay stands on the back of a brocket deer, acting as a cleaner, searching for ticks and other tidbits. Photographed in Poconé in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. #
American Avocet. In Salem, Utah, an American avocet is photographed in profile as it stretches. #
Bald Eagle. A juvenile bald eagle flies through a foggy sky at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Ridgefield, Washington. #
Great Blue Heron. A great blue heron fishes at Izaak Walton Nature Area at sunset. Photographed in November 2023 in Longmont, Colorado. #
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