The winning images from Bird Photographer of the Year 2024

A photo of a peregrine falcon practicing his hunting skills on a butterfly won the silver award in the bird behavior category of this year’s Bird Photographer of the Year. Taken in California, photographer Jack Zhi said that although he had been photographing peregrines for years, he had never seen them play with butterflies.

Nathaniel Peck’s photograph, taken using a camera trap, of a turkey vulture feeding on the carcass of a black bear in West Virginia won the gold award in the bird behavior category. Peck said that the vulture would visit the carcass frequently during the six months that his camera remained in place, “sometimes spending hours at the carcass.”

This striking image captures a Eurasian hoopoe taking flight in the early morning, prey caught in its beak and the sky illuminated by the sunrise. Taken by Hermis Haridas in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, it won gold in the birds in flight category. Haridas said that “it was as if nature had bestowed upon me a gift, a singular composition that encapsulates the essence of the hoopoe’s beauty and grace.”

This photograph shows a black grouse performing a courtship display on a cold spring morning in Kuusamo, Finland. The males gather to charge at each other in mock battles, which occasionally escalate to real fights. It was taken by Markus Varesvuo and was recognized in the best portrait category.

This photograph captures Gentoo penguins surfing in the waves after coming back from a hunting dive off the shore of the Falkland Islands. Taken by Levi Fitze, the picture won the silver award in the birds in the environment category.

This image, the winner of the comedy bird photo category, shows an Adélie penguin sliding along the ice in Antarctica. Photographer Nadia Haq said it was as if the bird was “performing a modern dance move.”

This photograph, the overall winner of Bird Photographer of the Year and the winner of the conservation category, shows the collected bodies of more than 4,000 birds killed in window collisions in Toronto, Canada. The competition aims to promote conservation, and in this image, Patricia Homonylo shines a light on the estimated billion birds that die each year in North America due to collisions with windows.

Gary Collyer captured this photograph of a group of white-crested helmetshrikes huddling together before sleeping on a cold March evening in South Africa. The picture was recognized in the comedy bird photo category.

During his commute to work in Florida, Robert Gloeckner noticed a dead palm tree with holes in it. When he checked again later that day, he spotted an Eastern screech-owl peeking out, winking at him. His picture was recognized in the comedy bird photo category.

This image won Young Bird Photographer of the Year 2024, and the gold award in the 12-14 years category. In the photograph, taken by Andrés Luis Domínguez Blanco, a Eurasian nuthatch ambles down a tree trunk on the way to drink from the river.