The lovely photographs and the opposition are especially strong now as the latest concentrate on the Condition of the World's Birds by BirdLife Global reports that a portion of the world's bird species are in decline, with more than one out of eight in danger of termination.

"The tensions causing these downfalls are surely known, and by far most are driven by human activities," the report, delivered at regular intervals, cautions. The environment emergency is additionally among the primary drivers of avian life decline."The difficulties to protection are raising, and there's simply no time to spare. The next few years will be the 'basic ten years' to act."

The grand prize

Norwegian photographer Erlend Haarberg won the £5,000 thousand award for his delightful picture taken above Tysfjorden. "High up in the mountains, the breeze, snow, and cold keep up with the iron hold of winter for a long time on end," he made sense of. "This interminable white scene and unforgiving climate are what this bird calls home."

"Yet again our capable photographers have illuminated the staggering variety of bird life that we share our planet with," said Will Nicholls, Overseer of Bird Photographer of the Year. "It is likewise an obvious indication of what we stand to lose in the event that we don't keep on taking care of the normal world and battle for today's security from the numerous dangers that exist."

This year, the opposition gave more than £5,000 to accomplice the good cause Birds on the Edge, which gives imperative financing to grass-roots bird protection projects all over the planet.

Photographers contended in eight classifications: Best Representation, Birds in the Climate, Meticulousness, Bird Conduct, Birds in Flight, High contrast, Metropolitan Birds, and Imaginative Symbolism.

The 2023 Contest is open until December 11 for sections to win a portion of the £17,000 prize asset.

Category Winners

Fitze spent a week in fall 2021 on Heligoland, a small island in the North Sea. “The weather was quite bad and I didn’t see a single nice sunrise,” he recalled. “However, the opportunity to observe all kind of shorebirds made up for the conditions.

When I saw a group of dunlin struggling with a small sandstorm, I decided to risk my equipment and attempt to photograph them. I could really see on their faces how annoyed they were by the wind and sand flying everywhere.”

“One of my parents’ friends, who lives nearby, took us on a hike to a location where she had seen Barred Owl chicks earlier in the week” said young Jenigiri. “We were just a few minutes into the hike when we heard them calling. Eventually we got to see four owlets, one of which landed close by and peered at me curiously from behind a tree trunk.”

You know that springtime has arrived on the prairies of the Great Basin of the American West when the Sage Grouse gather at their leks.

On these traditional display grounds, males of this threatened species perform their strutting displays in the hope of winning the right to mate. This behavior is for the benefit of the females, which judge the talent show and select the best genes to pass on to the next generation.

“I arrived at the lek more than an hour before the birds so I could set up my hide without causing disturbance,” said Dang. “On this particular morning this bird wandered close to my hide in full display. The photograph was taken without using baiting, calls, lures or unethical practices of any kind.

“In Fremont (California), there is a water fountain that is a hotspot for hummingbirds,” Pourahmad explained. “The birds like to bathe in the water, or, as in this case, catch and sip the droplets. I had to use a very fast shutter speed to freeze the water droplets and the wings of this Anna’s Hummingbird.”

While most images of King Penguins seem to be of striking adult birds, there is a definite cuteness to the chicks in their brown ‘teddybear’ plumage,” Pollard said. “This chick was asleep at Volunteer Point in the Falkland Islands, and I took the opportunity to capture the details around the beak, eye and ear — the latter seldom seen.”

During spring breeding, male Sage Grouse fly in to traditional lekking sites and don’t hesitate to mix it up in often violent fights.

“They have an elaborate display designed to attract and impress females and show their superiority,” said Ismert. “Inevitably, this leads to rivalry between males. I set up my ground hide a safe distance from the lek a couple of days before the photoshoot. I entered my hide in the middle of the night, trying to sleep as best I could before the early-morning hours. At first light, I awoke to booming sounds made by the male grouse, and the sight of their unusual display and this particular battle.”

Large areas of Australia are flat, dry and given over to wheat farming. Towns can consist of as little as a truck stop and a collection of grain silos. In some locations, these silos have become popular palettes for enormous murals, drawing tourists into otherwise desolate areas.

“I passed through Yelarbon and stopped for two hours to photograph the Galahs that are attracted to spilt grain,” said Slater. “The results were so pleasing and surreal that I made the seven-hour trip on a subsequent weekend to have another go, only to find that a mouse plague had moved in and the silos were being fumigated – no Galahs.”

“Ten metres down, I found myself hovering between two worlds,” said Spiers. “Below, an enormous school of fish covered the bottom as far as I could see. Above, a single Double-crested Cormorant patroled the surface, catching its breath and peering down at a potential underwater feast.

The cormorant, better designed for swimming than flying, would dive down at great speed, aggressively pursuing the fish. The school would move in unison to escape the bird’s sharp beak, making it difficult to isolate a single target.

More often than not, the bird returned to the surface empty-billed, and peace would momentarily be restored. This image captures the hostile black silhouette of the cormorant as it dives down onto its prey, which for a brief moment remain unaware of the danger above.”