Breathtaking Bird Photos: The Winners of the Audubon Photo Contest

The Audubon Society has officially announced the winners of their 7th annual Photography Awards, and even though it might help, you absolutely don’t have to be a bird photography lover to appreciate this stunning imagery.

The winning images were selected from over 7,000 entries by some 1,700 photographers who resided in all 50 states, 6 Canadian provinces, and the District of Columbia. In other words: competition was stiff. But the photographers highlighted below were up to the task.

Photographer Bonnie Block took home the grand prize with her image of a Bald Eagle and Great Blue Heron:

Dick Dickinson was named the Professional Winner for his incredibly composed image of an Osprey:

Steve Torna won the top prize in the Amateur category for his photo of hundreds (perhaps a thousand) Eared Grebes huddled together on Yellowstone Lake:

Carolina Anne Fraser took the top spot in the Youth category for her photo of two Great Frigatebirds fighting. She actually captured this shot during a family vacation to the Galapagos Islands.

Barbara Driscoll earned the top prize in the Fine Art category with our personal favorite winner of the bunch, her photo of a Green Violetear hummingbird drying off in Costa Rica:

That’s it for the winners, but a couple of honorable mentions were worth featuring as well. Artur Stankiewicz’s photo of a Black-winged Stilt about to enjoy a meal in Greece won honorable mention in the Amateur category:

Colleen Gara’s stunning image of a Common Raven couple sharing a moment in Banff, Alberta was given an honorable mention in the Amateur category as well:

And rounding out the Amateur category honorable mentions was this beautiful ground-level shot of a Piping Plover and her chick by Martin V. Sneary:

Finally, last but certainly not least, Blake Shaw’s striking silhouette of a Turkey Vulture captured near San Felipe earned an honorable mention in the Fine Art category.

All winning photographs will be published in Audubon magazine, Nature’s Best Photography magazine, and displayed in the 2016 Nature’s Best Photography Exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History later this year.

To learn more about each of these images or see them in glorious, high-resolution, head over to the Audubon Photography Awards website by clicking here.

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Image credits: All photos used courtesy of Audubon Photography Awards.