The Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) photo competition has announced the winners of the 2020 contest. The overall winner this year was Majed Alza’abi of Vardø, Norway, who captured the above “artistic and impressionistic” photo of European Shag.
“I took this shot in April 2019 while on a visit to the famous Norwegian seabird island of Vardø, a location packed full of birds that provide endless opportunities for photography,” Alza’abi, who wins £5,000, tells BPOTY. “[T]here are a lot of opportunities for creative composition, playing with foreground and background; here I like the out-of-focus shag framing the in-focus individual, plus the bokeh of the sea as sunset approached. By experimenting, I aimed to create artistic and impressionistic shots of shags, and I hope I achieved my goal with this image.”
The photo was shot handheld with a Nikon D850 with a AF-S Nikkor 180–400mm f/4E TC1.4 FL ED VR lens at 550mm, 1/1,000 second, f/5.6, and ISO 160.
Here are some of the other winning photos:
ROPEWALKER. Sword-billed Hummingbird Ensifera ensifera. Papallacta, Ecuador. Nicolas Reusens, Sweden. Category: Bird Behaviour. Bronze award winner.
A DIPPER IN THE MIRROR. White-throated Dipper Cinclus cinclus. Levanger, Trøndelag, Norway. Terje Kolaas, Norway. Category: Best Portrait. Bronze award winner.
CORMORANT UNDERWATER VIEW Brandt’s Cormorant Urile penicillatus. La Paz, Baja California, Mexico. Greg Lecoeur, France. Category: Best Portrait. Silver award winner.
NUTCRACKERS FIGHTING IN THE SNOW Northern Nutcracker Nucifraga caryocatactes. Sofia, Bulgaria. Roelof Molenaar, the Netherlands. Category: Bird Behaviour. Gold award winner.
FEEDING FRENZY Cape Gannet Morus capensis. Port St Johns, South Africa. Greg Lecoeur, France. Category: Bird Behaviour. Silver award winner.
FAIRY LANDING ON EARTH Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus. Sanmenxia, Henan, China. Shu Qing, China. Category: Birds in Flight. Bronze award winner.
HOOPOE FLIGHT AT LOW SPEED Common Hoopoe Upupa epops. Israel. Gadi Shmila, Israel. Category: Birds in Flight. Gold award winner.
TOUCH AND GO Pallid Swift Apus pallidus. Athens, Attica, Greece. Nikos Fokas, Greece. Category: Birds in Flight. Silver award winner.
A NEW BEGINNING Indian Roller Coracias benghalensis. Kaziranga National Park, India. Swayamsiddha Mohapatra, India. Category: Birds in the Environment. Bronze award winner.
SWIFTS OVER IGUAZÚ FALLS Great Dusky Swift Cypseloides senex. Iguazú Falls, Misiones, Argentina. Francesco Filippo Pellegrini, Italy. Category: Birds in the Environment. Gold award winner.
HAWK OWL IN A MOUNTAIN FOREST Northern Hawk-owl Surnia ulula. Golsfjell mountain region, Norway. Pål Hermansen, Norway. Category: Birds in the Environment. Silver award winner.
PYROGRAPHY Common Hoopoe Upupa epops. Gijón, Spain. Juan Pablo Plaza Pozo, Spain. Category: Black and White. Bronze award winner.
SINGLE ROOM AVAILABLE Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris. The Netherlands. Robert Sommer, Germany. Category: Black and White. Gold award winner.
GREAT GREY OWL Great Grey Owl Strix nebulosa. Nynäshamn, Stockholm, Sweden. Daniel Stenberg, Sweden. Category: Black and White. Silver award winner.
MAKE-UP Little Egret Egretta garzetta. Deqing, Zhejiang, China. Chengbo Sun, China. Category: Creative Imagery. Bronze award winner.
ELECTRIC White Stork Ciconia ciconia. Seville, Spain. Carlos Cifuentes, [place?]. Category: Garden and Urban Birds. Bronze award winner.
PERFECT CAMOUFLAGE Eurasian Scops-owl Otus scops. Kibbutz Hatzor, Israel. Moshe Cohen, Israel. Category: Attention to Detail. Gold award winner.
In its 5th year, the Bird Photographer of the Year competition is owned by the conservation charity Birds on the Brink, which receives the proceeds of the contest. The charity awards grants for conservation projects that benefit birds.
You can find more winners from this year’s competition and the winners of previous years on the BPOTY website.
(via BPOTY via Colossal)
Image credits: All photographs copyright their respective owners and courtesy Bird Photographer of the Year
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