The 2026 Audubon Photography Awards: Winners

Behind the Shot: I used to be on a ship with a staff of scientists who have been on the lookout for fin whales and sperm whales, when a bunch of Black-browed Albatrosses circled us with apparent curiosity. The water was exceptionally clear, so I made a decision to submerge my GoPro digicam hooked up to a protracted pole to seize the fragile motion of the birds’ webbed ft beneath the floor. Out of the blue, one swam nearer and dove down as if to analyze the shiny object. Within the slow-motion footage, you possibly can see its eyes in lovely element. 

Behind the Shot: Photographing this Oilbird in flight inside its sanctuary of shadows was a take a look at of persistence and method. I knew the lighting situations within the cavern could be essential, so I went forward of the group I used to be with, crossing a dashing river to seek out the proper angle with out disturbing the world. I elevated my digicam’s mild sensitivity and used a excessive shutter pace to freeze the birds’ motion. As my companions caught up with me, the cave got here alive in an explosion of fluttering wings. I had a nasty fall on the river rocks on my return journey, however my knee ache vanished after I noticed this picture. 

Chook Lore: The phrase distinctive barely begins to explain the Oilbird. These birds reside in colonies inside caves, rising solely at night time to feed on sure varieties of fruiting timber. Their eyes are extremely delicate to mild, they’ve a eager sense of scent, and so they additionally use echolocation to navigate. Whereas flying, they produce bursts of sharp clicking calls, and the returning echoes permit them to keep away from obstacles within the forest on moonless nights or within the whole darkness of a cavern.   

Choose’s Take (Sebastian Herzog): Taking sharp, charming images of birds in flight requires a variety of expertise and ability, however capturing a primarily nocturnal hen inside a cave with out utilizing a flash is on one other stage! This picture stands out for its technically complicated execution, which freezes the Oilbird in mid-flight and permits us to discern all the small print of its plumage, regardless of lighting situations removed from supreme. It gives us a uncommon glimpse into the darkish residence of this enigmatic species.   

Behind the Shot: Saguaro cactus blossoms start opening in early April in southeast Arizona.  They solely bloom for a few day and a half, offering a possibility to look at pollinators like birds and bats. The flowers are often method too excessive for me to get a superb perspective, however these have been on an arm that grew to the aspect. I finished by each morning, ready for the buds to open. After they did, I watched this feminine woodpecker’s head utterly disappear into the blossom because it sampled the nectar. The result’s each whimsical and engaging habits. 

Chook Lore: In dry lowlands of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, Gila Woodpeckers have a detailed relationship with the enormous saguaro cactus, an icon of the Sonoran Desert. When the saguaro blooms, the birds go to the flowers and assist in pollination. Later they return to eat the fruits and excavate a nest within the cactus. The gentle internal pulp stiffens across the birds’ nest cavity over time, and the ensuing laborious shell might function a pure birdhouse for different species for a few years to come back. 

Choose’s Take (Marlene Pantin): This picture artfully demonstrates the mutual bond between these two species. The birds depend on the plant for secure nesting areas and meals, as we see right here, and the cacti profit from the pollination providers that woodpeckers present. 

Behind the Shot: I used to be in Tolima for a marriage and took the chance to go to this magical but desolate mountain panorama. A few of the nation’s final wax palm forests survive right here, at the same time as multinational firms proceed clearing these ecosystems to make method for monocultures of Hass avocado crops. With an area information, I went to see the Yellow-eared Parrot, whose survival will depend on the wax palm. I hope this picture of the hen and palm surrounded by crops conveys a message of vigilance: Due to the tireless efforts of environmental advocates, the species was saved from close to extinction—but when avocado plantations hold encroaching, the parrot’s story of restoration may take a flip for the more severe. 

Chook Lore: A big parrot of the Andes, this species was previously frequent in components of Colombia and northwestern Ecuador, however suffered steep losses on account of habitat destruction. By the late Nineties, its inhabitants was estimated at solely about 80 people. With intensive efforts to guard its habitat, Yellow-eared Parrot numbers have bounced again, with current estimates of greater than 2,000 birds. However that’s nonetheless a dangerously low quantity. 

Choose’s Take (Jaír F. Coll): This {photograph} captures the poignant resilience of the Yellow-eared Parrot. The scene contrasts the hen’s solitude with a background dominated by the geometry of monoculture crops, highlighting the fragmentation of the species’ habitat. With an impeccable composition, the work isn’t solely aesthetically lovely but additionally serves as an pressing invitation to mirror on the strain that agribusiness exerts on our Andean panorama and its endemic species.  

Behind the Shot: Whereas my father went paddleboarding in Puget Sound, I’d usually stroll alongside the shoreline to {photograph} herons, gulls, and Ospreys. Most days, I dismissed pigeons as too frequent to doc. This morning, nonetheless, I observed Rock Pigeons swoop out from beneath an previous pier to gather nesting materials after which financial institution again beneath, flaring their wings and fanning their tail feathers large as they braked to land. One particular person’s plumage appeared to glow each time it handed by way of a shaft of daylight. I positioned myself on boulders under the pier and captured this shot when the pigeon swept into the body. The expertise taught me a lesson: Even frequent birds can produce the day’s most hanging picture. 

Chook Lore: Launched all over the world by people, the Rock Pigeon has confirmed surprisingly adaptable and resilient. In its authentic vary in components of Eurasia and northern Africa, it nested on cliffs alongside the coast or in arid foothills. In the present day it may be discovered nesting on constructing ledges, in barns, underneath bridges, and on myriad different artifical websites on six continents. The beams beneath a coastal pier might present an ideal website for a nest, with the floor above preserving rain out and the water under deterring land-based predators. 

Choose’s Take (Sadie Hine): The very first thing that stands out about this picture is the artistic use of sunshine. By capturing this precise second, the photographer reworked a typical, ignored hen right into a hanging topic. The refined background textures add visible curiosity and components of storytelling and fantastically complement the hen’s heat tones. The longer you look, the extra particulars you uncover. 

Behind the Shot: I spend a variety of time photographing waterfowl, however on this bitterly chilly winter day, I used to be reluctant to go away my heat home. I pushed myself to exit. The geese weren’t very energetic, and after half-hour I made a decision to go heat up within the automotive. Usually I depart my digicam on the ice throughout breaks, however this time I took it with me. Thank goodness I did, as a result of simply as I reached the automotive, I noticed a feminine Frequent Merganser with a flatfish take to the air to guard her catch from different mergansers. I used to be thrilled to snap this body as she handed me at eye stage, however I fearful it wouldn’t be tack sharp. It was!  

Chook Lore: Mergansers are among the many few geese that frequently eat fish, diving and swimming gracefully underwater to seize them of their lengthy, slim payments. Ordinarily the hen will eat its prey promptly after catching it, pausing solely lengthy sufficient to maneuver the fish into place for swallowing it headfirst. But when different members of the flock attempt to steal the catch, the hen might should maneuver to maintain maintain of its meal. 

Choose’s Take (Jess Gorzo): This felt like a portrait match for a area information illustration, whereas on the identical time a rare motion shot dropped at life by vibrant lighting and reflective ice and snow. The judges appreciated each the luck and ability concerned in capturing this completely framed second in flight, fish in beak. Along with its glorious composition and topic, this joyful picture captures a day within the lifetime of a feminine Frequent Merganser. 

Behind the Shot: I used to be strolling by way of the woods with a bunch of birding buddies one cloudy morning after I got here throughout a Plain-backed Antpitta—a lifer for me and one of many first information of the species for the world. With that sighting, my day was already successful, however then I noticed​​​​ this Canada Warbler. I took a photograph, but it surely was solely after I checked out it later that I observed the proper dew-covered spiderweb hanging beneath the department. The hen appears to be wanting on the internet, making a pure concord. For 3 years, I had tried many occasions to get an honest picture of this species, however I hadn’t but succeeded. What you see earlier than you is a dream fulfilled. 

Chook Lore: Present in its namesake nation for lower than half the yr, the Canada Warbler is a long-distance migrant. It spends the nonbreeding season largely in South America at center elevations within the Andes, the place it largely sticks to dense understory of rain forest and cloud forest. It’s going to typically be part of with flocks of different migrant or resident birds—particularly those who comply with swarms of military ants. The Canada Warbler then seizes the prospect to seize smaller bugs that the ants scare up.  

Choose’s Take (Sebastian Herzog): Capturing this intriguing composition of an grownup male Canada Warbler—a migratory species that hardly ever stays nonetheless—requires taking pictures at simply the appropriate second, with a really sharp focus and the best depth of area. Right here, the hen appears to pause for a second in its fixed seek for meals to stare upon a spiderweb. The raindrops caught on the net shine and exhibit the net’s distinctive geometry.  

Behind the Shot: Nesting is not only a relationship between two birds; it’s usually an entire set of species interactions. When a wax palm dies, woodpeckers peck into the bark, creating hollows that Yellow-eared Parrots later occupy. On at the present time, I waited​​ greater than eight hours underneath the towering wax palms for this couple to seem. They’d simply begun to construct their residence, and I wished to seize them coming into their nest, however the mild labored towards me. Then the pair provided a extra intimate scene: their ritual of preening, a vital habits for sustaining and strengthening their bond. The on a regular basis interplay on this picture felt like an genuine expression of connection and mutual care. 

Chook Lore: A number of sorts of parrots all over the world have particular connections to specific varieties of palm timber. For Yellow-eared Parrots of the Colombian Andes, their survival will depend on wax palms of the genus Ceroxylon. Though they are going to feed on different kinds of fruits, the laborious, reddish fruits of wax palms present the mainstay of their weight loss plan. Yellow-eared Parrots additionally breed in colonies in groves of tall wax palms, every pair inserting its nest in a gap excessive in a trunk.  

Choose’s Take (Niky Carrera Levy): The picture’s composition highlights each the parrots and wax palm, reminding us of a significant relationship. The interplay between the 2 birds conveys a way of intimacy and dependence on the territory, whereas the textures of the trunk distinction harmoniously with the hues of their plumage. Past its aesthetic enchantment, the picture reveals that useless wax palms proceed to function a refuge and a house. It is a deeply Colombian {photograph} that unites narrative, habits, and conservation in a single snapshot.  

These images initially ran within the Fall 2026 difficulty. To obtain our print journal, grow to be a member by making a donation today. You can even view the runner-up photographs at this link, and keep tuned for our judges’ High 100 images from the awards—approaching September 23.