re: Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award - which one gets your vote?

swimming with barracudas

I’ll go with the meerkat because it reminds me of my youngest dog.

Those are some bad arse shots. My favorites

Awesome pics.

Right click.

quote:

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Damn son! I would have guessed 200

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My original guess as well

First Place:


Idk why but it just intrigues me so much. A moment that captures the silent conversations that take place each day in the natural world around us (and a feeling all too familiar to anyone who has ever lived with a roommate)

Second Place:


Life in the midst of death. Whether the fire was natural or man-made means naught now. Life survived in the end

Third Place:


Energy Conquers All

That Grizzly & the Fox. Those are amazing pieces of nature.

2020


The embrace

Sergey scoured the forest for signs of Amur, or Siberian, tigers, searching for the best place to set up his camera trap. He knew his chance of photographing one was slim, but his mind was made up. ‘From then on, I could think of nothing else,’ Sergey says. After 10 months, his dedication paid off: he captured a rare glimpse of this magnificent tiger in its wild habitat.




Wolf Mountain

Lorenzo was determined, having devoted six months to finding the perfect spot from which to photograph wolves. After securing his camera trap to a tree, he spent hours adjusting the settings to include the mountain backdrop. As these wolves loped along a regular route, their coats a mirror of the surroundings, Lorenzo achieved this atmospheric shot.




Ocelot on the Highway

The fallen tree, bridging a small river, shouted ‘wildlife highway’ to Charlie. He spent weeks perfecting the set-up of his camera trap so that it would reveal elusive species in daylight as they emerged from the forest and crossed the bridge. Over several months, he captured images of many animals, including this handsome ocelot, the early morning light brightening its face.




Alpine Revelation

When Andrea spotted one ibex, the more he looked, the more he saw. A herd of around 50 was loitering in the shadows, a few younger ones fighting listlessly. Andrea captured this small group against the cliffs, the rich scenery splashed with colourful minerals and lichens.




The Pose

The proboscis monkey cocked its head slightly and closed its eyes. It posed for a few seconds, as if in meditation. A wild visitor to a sanctuary feeding station, this monkey was ‘the most laid-back character’, says Mogens. Its peaceful expression was quite unlike anything he had seen before.




Taiga Tiger in the Night

Sergey had never set eyes on a wild tiger when he resolved to photograph one in the east of Russia. He found his ideal setting, minus the cat, and hid his camera on a tree. A few days later, a young Amur, or Siberian, tiger gave Sergey the portrait he had hoped for, the colours of its coat harmonising with the surroundings.




Eye of the Drought

An eye blinked in the drought-stricken mud pool as the hippopotamus emerged to take a breath. The challenge for Jose, watching from his vehicle, was to catch the eye when it was open. Having observed hippos for years, he knew that they only come up for air every three to five minutes.




Top Picker

Looking up, Max was astonished to see a tayra peering down at him. He had occasionally encountered these elusive mammals bounding along the forest floor, yet this one was high in a Panama rubber tree, picking fruit with its teeth. Aiming his camera straight up to the clouds, Max captured this rare shot.




Night Hunter

Having tracked this great grey owl’s every move for weeks, Jonas set out in his car, on the night of a full moon, to capture a photograph of the bird. When he spotted his subject, Jonas cast his headlights towards it and sneaked into the forest. He caught the owl raising its claw, poised to attack a vole.




Life in the Balance

Jaime walked for four hours to reach this location, determined to share his passion for glass frogs. He was thrilled to catch sight of one eating a spider, its eyes like shimmering mosaics. Serenaded by a frog chorus in torrential rain, Jaime claimed the first-ever picture of this species feeding.




Head Start

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources/visit/wpy/2020/medium/webp/c7ea7a9f-a771-40d5-8267-56516db6fd42.webp




Great crested Sunrise

Up to his chest in water, Jose Luis shot this intimate moment with a family of great crested grebes. When one parent emerged with damp feathers and a fish, Jose Luis was lucky that not a breath of wind rippled the water. A stripy-headed chick stretched out of its sanctuary, open-beaked, to claim the tasty meal.




Snake Versus Eagle

When a short-toed snake-eagle flew past and swooped upon an Indian rat snake, Sambath thought the action would be over in seconds. Yet the snake fought back. ‘It coiled all over the eagle,’ he explains. ‘At one point, I thought it might escape.’ Through his open car window, Sambath captured the animals, eyes locked, in combat.




When Mother Says Run

This rare scene of playful Pallas’s cats took six years to capture. Hiding opposite an old marmot hole in which a family of cats had built its lair, Shanyuan waited. Hours of patience were rewarded when three kittens emerged to play while their parent kept a lookout. Upon the sighting of a Tibetan fox nearby, the youngsters were swiftly ushered back inside.




Surprise!

Makoto spent hours hiding behind a tree in the hope of seeing this owl couple pose or perform. Then a squirrel appeared. It approached the owls’ nesthole and peered in before suddenly leaping away and speeding into the forest, as if realising its mistake. With equally quick reactions, Makoto framed the squirrel’s frenzied escape under the owls’ watchful gaze.




Kids' Game

Yossi knew the ibex herd took the same route to find water and food every morning, so he was in position before first light. On cue, the ibex appeared. The adults walked nimbly around the cliff edge, but the kids couldn’t resist jumping over the ravine as ‘a game’, Yossi recalls. ‘This one bleated a few times then found the courage.’




The Current of Life

Thousands of convict surgeonfish congregated to spawn in a narrow channel leading to the South Pacific Ocean – and sharks gathered to feed on them. Laurent photographed the fish scattering as the last rays of sun lit their billowing eggs. He spent four years diving around this remote coral reef observing its marine life.

2019


Snow-Plateau Nomads

A small herd of male chirus makes its way to the relative warmth of the Kumukuli Desert. These nimble antelopes are high-altitude specialists found only on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. For years, Shangzhen made the long, arduous journey to observe them there. Here he drew the contrasting elements of snow and sand together.




The Albatross Cave

The large cave on the side of Te Tara Koi Koia shelters the eggs and chicks of Chatham albatrosses until the young are ready to fly. The island is the only place in the world where they breed naturally, making Thomas one of the privileged few to have witnessed and captured this moment.




Portrait of a Mother

When you are eye to eye with a wild puma,’ says Ingo, ‘excitement is guaranteed.’ Tracking these elusive cats on foot meant lugging heavy gear long distances, often in freezing temperatures and unrelenting winds. Mutual respect gradually earned him the trust of a female and her cubs, allowing him to capture this intimate family portrait.




A Bite to Eat

Jaime was looking for frogs when he suddenly spotted a cat-eyed snake, a species with a particular liking for amphibians. Upon grasping its victim in its jaws, the snake released low-level toxic venom to subdue it. The brutal reality of the situation is captured in the eyes of the trapped hourglass tree frog.




Land of the Eagle

Audun carefully positioned this tree branch, hoping it would make a perfect lookout for a golden eagle. He set up a camera trap and occasionally left road-kill carrion nearby. Very gradually, over the next three years, this eagle started to use the branch to survey its coastal realm. Audun captured its power as it came in to land, talons outstretched.




Cool Drink

Despite the bitterly cold temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius, Diana spent hours mesmerised by what she described as the ‘well-choreographed dance’ of a group of long-tailed tits taking turns to peck at an icicle. With the fast movement of the birds and her fingers feeling like blocks of ice, capturing their behaviour was no easy task.




The Plumage Parade

A procession of macaroni penguins wove up the ridge of an old volcano crater towards their roosting terrace. The ground was strewn with feathers and the air reverberated with tremendous noise from the colony. With a special permit to board the island, Thomas had just a few hours with the penguins before a storm engulfed the coast and most of them headed out to sea.




Dinner Duty

Perched on a tree stump, a great grey owl delivers food to his chick. Tommy spent weeks photographing the family, trying not to disturb them. Hiding under a camouflage net, he finally captured this tender moment using a wide aperture to isolate the owls’ dappled plumage against a dreamy background.




The Architectural Army

By day this colony of army ants raided their surrounds, mostly hunting other ant species. At dusk they moved on, travelling up to 400 metres before building a nest for the night. Positioning his camera on the forest floor, Daniel was wary of upsetting thousands of venomous army ants. ‘You mustn’t breathe in their direction,’ he says.




The Moment

This Himalayan marmot was not long out of hibernation when it was surprised by a mother Tibetan fox with three hungry cubs to feed. With lightning-fast reactions, Yongqing captured the attack – the power of the predator baring her teeth, the terror of her prey, the intensity of life and death written on their faces.




Big Cat and Dog Spat

In a rare encounter, a lone male cheetah is set upon by a pack of African wild dogs. At first the dogs were wary, but as the rest of their 12-strong pack arrived their confidence grew. They began to encircle and probe the big cat, chirping with excitement. It was all over a few minutes later, when the cheetah fled.




If Penguins Could Fly

A gentoo penguin flees for its life as a leopard seal bursts out of the water. Eduardo was expecting it. He had noticed the penguin resting on a fragment of broken ice and watched the seal swim back and forth. ‘Moments later, the seal flew out of the water, mouth open,’ he says.




The Slow Movement

As this brown-throated three-toed sloth slowly and methodically descended to the bare lower branches of a cecropia tree, Dani knew it was unusual to witness this moment. Sloths only come down from their tree-top homes around once every eight days, to defecate. Why they cannot do this from up in their tree is still a mystery.




The Garden of Eels

A swaying colony of garden eels vanished into their burrows as soon as David arrived at this underwater scene. So as not to disturb them again, he set up his camera and hid behind a shipwreck where he could trigger the system remotely. It was several hours before the eels re-emerged and several days before David got his perfect shot.




Lucky Break

A raccoon poked her head out of an abandoned car and paused to assess her surroundings, allowing Jason just enough time to use a long exposure in the twilight. The back seat was an ideal den for the raccoon and her five cubs as the only entrance – through a blunt-edged hole in the glass – was large enough for her but too small for predators such as coyotes.




Water Jump

A male panther leaps over a creek in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.




Snow Landing

With outstretched wings and intense eyes fixed on its prey, a bald eagle lands in fresh snow on a riverbank. Jérémie spent a week observing the behaviour of these birds from his hide. Spotting this one swooping down to catch salmon from the icy water below, he was well-positioned to capture this portrait.




Matching Outfits

Michel was in the Pantanal, Brazil photographing jaguars.

One afternoon, as he was on the Três Irmãos River, a mother and her cub crossed right in front of his boat. He watched mesmerized as they left the water holding an anaconda with a very similar pattern to their own.