16 Best Photos from the Bird Photographer of the Year Contest 2019 that Are Amazing

Every year since 2016, the Bird Photographer of The Year competition has been astonishing bird watching fans worldwide and rightly so because the photographs are mind-blowing, to say the least. It is a prestigious competition where photographers from all over the world compete in six categories for the grand prize of Bird Photographer of The Year. After 13,500 images from 63 different countries, it was British photographer Caron Steele who won the coveted grand prize of 5000 pounds.  Here are 16 of the best photographs from the Bird Photographer of The Year 2019.

more information at bird photographer of the year/Instagram

Caron Steele Bird Photographer of the year 2019

The winning photo of this year was UK Photographer Caron Steele’s majestic shot of a Dalmatian Pelican on a frozen Lake Kerkini in Greece. Steele happened to be on site when the lake froze after 16 years. Her shot of the pelican navigating the slippery surface is drama and technical excellence rolled into one.  Caron who is a graduate in Zoology took up photography in 2014.

Yashodhan Bhatia - Best Portrait - Honorable Mention

It took Bhatia from India four sessions in two days to get this perfect shot of a swift or swallow who belonged to a little colony of swallows she found under a bridge in a state highway. She says “I was amazed at how these tiny birds have truly mastered flight. While gliding, they continually change the shape of their wings, albeit very subtly, and optimize their aerodynamic performance to control lift, thrust, drag and whatnot.’

Ben Andrew - Best Portrait – Silver

Photographer Ben Andrew took this shot of a small Kingfisher during the winter months when he found the bird spending time fishing around ornamental water gardens that are surrounded by shops, roads and a car park. The spot was next to a bus stop where he positioned himself against railings for the opportune moment.

Madeline Nolan - Young Bird Photographer of The Year – Silver

Madeline Nolan took this amazing shot in the forests of Creede Colorado and was thrilled to get a really net shot of this adorable Rufous Hummingbird with her tongue sticking out.

Nikunj Patel - Birds in Flight – Gold

This image of a black skimmer was captured by Nikunj Patel in the summer of 2018 at Ocean City, New Jersey, USA. The Black Skimmer is an endangered species in the state of New Jersey.’

Bence Mate - Bird Behaviour - Honorable Mention

Photographer Bence Mate says that it isn’t easy for bird photographers to get a shot of white birds in a white environment and he planned for more than ten years to capture Great White Egrets in the snow with snow clouds in the background.

Hu Yi - Bird Behaviour – Bronze

This photo shows two male Reeves’s Pheasants, performing an elaborate display that I refer to as their ‘dancing steps’. Their behavior is akin to mating and is meant to attract a female nearby. This is a protective and highly attractive species found in Xinyang City, Henan Province China.

Pedro Jarque Krebs - Creative Imagery - Honorable Mention

This surprisingly is a photo of Pelicans being fed in London Zoo.

Arturo De Frias - Best Portrait - Honorable Mention

This is a brilliant creative portrait of an Arctic bird taken with a technique called extreme overexposure. The results, of course, are unique.

Ariel Fields - Young Bird Photographer Of The Year – Bronze

According to Ariel Fields “I had been watching this Little Owl for roughly 30 minutes. The light was getting nicer and nicer: as the sun goes down you can get mysterious moody shots. The owl was watching something on the ground, maybe her next meal...’

Martin Grace - Inspirational Encounters – Gold

This is another gold award photograph of Emperor penguins which are the most difficult birds to see as they forgo land and are flightless.  The photographer went theough quite an ordeal to reach the colony in Antarctica and spent just half an hour in the colony.

Thomas Hinchey - Best Portfolio

A mesmerizing shot of the courtship ritual of a drake Goldeneye in its entire splendor. The courtship display of these ducks begins early in the year, sometimes even in January.

Thomas Hinsche - Best Portfolio

 Another shot of Hinsche and in his own words “‘It was the first very cold morning of last winter. Ground frost covered the meadows of the floodplain forests and the Buzzards were out hunting mice at sunrise. A wonderfully soft light prevailed on this cold December morning and I was able to photograph this scene while lying hidden in a bush.’

Thomas Hinsche - Best Portfolio

Another amazing shot by Thomas Hinsche of a male Hoopoe feeding its mate while she incubates her eggs. Taken in Central Germany.

Meera Sulaiman - Garden and Urban Birds – Silver

This photograph is another example of how humans affect the environment. This is the type of picture that makes man the main culprit of who is really poisoning the environment and the irony is that it is being done in the name of development and progress, but to what end.

It is a photo of trumpeter swans in their environment which also happens to be the part of Lake Ontario that is the biggest toxic coal-tar deposit in Canada, a by-product of more than 100 years of industrial waste. These swans are the largest of their species with wingspans of 8 feet.  While they existed in large numbers, they almost went extinct in the 1880s and were locally extinct in Ontario, Canada because of hunting. Meera Sulaiman says she began documenting these birds three years ago and found that they are slowly making a comeback after 30 years.

Liron Gertsman - Birds In Flight - Bronze

This slow shutter speed shot was the result of a painstaking effort by the photographer traveling by boat, canoe and hike to an area called a clay lick in the Amazon basin to shoot hundreds of parakeets, macaws and parrots who come to eat clay and neutralize the acidic fruits that they eat