Capturing flight

Winners and finalists of Bird Photographer of the Year share their tips for success with Hollie Latham Hucker

- Hollie Latham Hucker

This year over 23,000 images were submitted to the Bird Photographer of the Year competition by photographers all around the world in the hope of winning the grand title and £3,500 in prize money.

The winning image – ‘When Worlds Collide’ by Canadian photographer Patricia Homonylo – is one that you won’t forget in a hurry. It depicts over 4,000 dead birds from window collisions in Toronto, carefully positioned in a series of rings, symbolising the poignancy of the circle of life.

‘Each year more than one billion birds die in North America alone due to collisions with windows,’ says Homonylo. ‘I am a conservation photojournalist and have been working with the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP), where we save window-collision survivors in Toronto. Sadly, most of the birds we find are already dead. They are collected and at the end of the year we create this impactful display to honour the lives lost and to increase public awareness.’

This image, which was also the Conservation category winner, really sums up the core values at the heart of this competition and what it seeks to do. It raises awareness of human impact on the environment and the devastation it can cause to wild birds. This year the competition donated £5,000 to partner charity Birds on the Brink, which provides vital funding to grass-roots bird conservation projects around the world. (See more details at www.birdsonthebrink.co.uk).

Other categories in the adult competition included Best Portrait, Birds in the Environment, Bird Behaviour, Birds in Flight, Black and White, Urban Birds, Conservation and Comedy Bird. There was also a Portfolio and Video award too.

The Young Bird Photographer of the Year title was awarded to 14-year-old Spanish photographer Andrés Luis Domínguez Blanco for his creative angle on a nuthatch scrambling down an oak tree.