Our 2022 Audubon Photography Awards marked the second yr of our new Female Hen Prize. Produced to connect with focus to some of the most overlooked birds in the earth, the woman bird class challenges photographers to focus their cameras and awareness on the sex that is too frequently disregarded. This neglect by bird lovers and even scientists isn’t just a dilemma of philosophy or equality. Modern analysis has proven that absence of emphasis on the unique demands of woman birds has profound implications for species conservation.
When Audubon magazine launched the Female Hen Prize, we weren’t absolutely sure what the reaction was going to be. We were being pleasantly amazed when we been given hundreds of remarkable submissions the initially 12 months. But that did not prepare us for the avalanche of unbelievable woman fowl photography that we would receive in 2022. More than a thousand photos that includes a wide array of species, from jaunty Hooded Mergansers to regal Northern Shovelers, left our particular panel of judges beaming.
If after savoring the images under you locate by yourself impressed to pick up a digital camera and go after feminine avian topics on your have, our pictures section has everything you will need to get begun, including guidelines and how-to’s and Audubon’s moral suggestions for wildlife pictures. Then get out there and start recording your most loved species. And if you like the results, take into account submitting your best photos to this year’s awards!
Hooded Merganser by John Lee Wong (previously mentioned)
Site: Arcadia, CA
Behind the Shot: I took this shot on my fourth excursion of the season photographing Hooded Mergansers with crayfish. I had lots of excellent pictures by now, but this time I required to seize a magnificent high-action instant, something unique and seldom noticed. After a few hrs, a female merganser emerged from the h2o with a significant crayfish and two males took off toward her to steal it. As she commenced leaning ahead and lifting her wings, I strike the shutter button to seize her kicking up a gigantic rooster tail of water even though having off with her capture. To me, getting a woman merganser as the star in its place of a person of the extra flamboyant males made this shot that a great deal more specific.
Northern Flicker by Marti Phillips
Site: Tiburon, CA
At the rear of the Shot: During COVID-19 pandemic closures, I manufactured a venture of photographing each species that landed in the treetops visible from my backyard deck. I have photographs of a lot more than 30 diverse species on a single branch, which shows how essential just one particular tree can be to a large variety of birds. The major of the tree showcased in this shot is a most loved perch. I enjoy how the patterns on the flicker echo the designs on the tree and pinecones. I hope that even while this tree has died thanks to the drought, the homeowners of the assets never cut it down—it is so essential to the wildlife in the community.
Snail Kite by John Ruggeri
Place: Lake Tohopekelagia, Osceola County, FL
At the rear of the Shot: I have been viewing this feminine Snail Kite given that 2018. She returns to the south stop of Lake Tohopekelagia every November, and according to College of Florida biologists, she hatched on the lake back in 2016. I have nicknamed her Turtle Female for the reason that, contrary to her frequent name, she would seem to be drawn additional to turtles than snails, at least in this site. She successfully hunts anyplace from five to eight turtles for every working day. On the day I got this shot after returning from a tour, I offloaded my travellers, pushed off the dock, and enable the boat drift to the other facet of the basin. The boat arrived to rest in the lily pads, and I checked the configurations and started photographing her. To photograph Turtle Woman, I like to wait right up until the afternoon when the mild is extra desirable.
Bushtit by Ken Meyer
Place: Portland, OR
Behind the Shot: Our property is a Certified Yard Habitat through our community chapter of Audubon, and as my spouse and I have acquired more about the software, we volunteer to assess and certify other yards. A single important component of evaluating yards is paying out consideration to the levels. Birds use unique levels to solution food resources and to have an escape route from predators, as very well as for acquiring suitable nest web-sites. A flock of Bushtits regularly go to our yard in the wintertime and spring, and like this a person, they make use of the levels of vegetation that we have, shifting from tree to shrub in look for of bugs. If you are capable to deliver the proper habitat for birds, you don’t have to travel to love them.
Northern Shoveler by Gloria Hong
Place: Central Park, NY
Behind the Shot: I expended an hour at Central Park’s reservoir photographing overwintering ducks before walking my way north to an place referred to as “the pool” to sit and rest. A woman Northern Shoveler decided she was going to preen on a rock that was around the place I was sitting down, and the light-weight was wonderful. I enjoy photographing ducks at the pool because it will allow me to get low. Autumn leaves were being still on trees, and as the solar filtered through them, it forged a wonderful reddish-orange tint to the water that framed her so fantastically.
Boat-tailed Grackle by Nancy Malecki
Area: Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Delray Seaside, FL
At the rear of the Shot: I frequented the Wakodahatchee Wetlands on a partly cloudy working day, and by my 3rd loop around the boardwalk, it was turning into more challenging to preserve up with the quick-shifting clouds and promptly altering mild circumstances. Ahead, I observed a large group of people, so I made a decision to gradual down and watch some Boat-tailed Grackles exhibiting courting actions. With the males plainly outnumbering the women, they ended up frantically striving to out-exhibit one a different to impress the ladies. After a couple minutes, this female landed nearby. It appeared each of us were using a time-out from the exercise close to us. I was satisfied to seize a few images of her as she rested briefly ahead of flying off yet again.
Northern Harrier by Jason Gilbody
Area: Salisbury Seaside Condition Reservation, Salisbury, MA
Behind the Shot: This woman Northern Harrier was really the star at this site for the duration of the wintertime of 2021-2022. This seaside point out park is pretty large, but she experienced a sample of carrying out loops about the marsh. To our shock and disbelief, she arrived out of nowhere and perched on this forked department. I moved marginally and slowly to get the very best angle, then stood as nevertheless as possible to not disturb her or spook her from her perch. She stayed perched for minutes, preening and calling to the other harriers in the spot as I photographed absent. This image of her preening was a single of my favorites from the interaction. I cherished that she experienced isolated a solitary feather in her beak but is nonetheless looking fairly intently across the marsh in situation she sees her following meal.
Indigo Bunting by Jane Gamble
Area: McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Region, Poolesville, MD
At the rear of the Shot: Every single 12 months, the Maryland Department of Purely natural Sources crops the McKee-Beshers sunflower fields in Poolesville, MD. By early July, the sunflowers are at their peak, offering a glorious backdrop for photographers who appear to capture the fleeting attractiveness of the bouquets and the creatures who benefit the prosperous habitat. I was waiting patiently, surrounded by sunflowers that towered around me but furnished good deal with, when I noticed this feminine Indigo Bunting land with a juicy caterpillar in her beak. There was no posing for her—just a swift search in my direction before traveling again to the trees with her capture. It was plenty of time for me to snap the shot and seize the second.
Extensive-tailed Duck by Vicki Jauron
Place: Island Beach Point out Park, NJ
Behind the Shot: The golden sunrise colors, the delicate waves, a single little woman Prolonged-tailed Duck in profile as she crests the swell—this scene evokes a feeling of serenity and oneness with character for me. The bird is so tiny in the body that she simply cannot be the matter, however she provides a perception of speculate, a feeling of vastness, and a deep perception of all being proper with the environment. For me there is no time far better than sunrise to capture mood and emotion, and there’s no place better to do it than on the seaside. For the duration of these situations, I am joyful to cross paths with any fowl, close or significantly, distinctive or widespread.
Purple-winged Blackbird by Kenneth Haas
Locale: Upstate New York
Driving the Shot: I took this shot on a chilly, overcast, and windy afternoon in early May perhaps. All around the pond on my assets, the air was stuffed with the seem of a dozen Purple-winged Blackbirds. When I noticed cattail seeds traveling in the wind across the frame of my digital camera, I slowly and gradually and quietly moved my tripod all-around the tree obstructing my check out to find this woman pulling seeds from past year’s cattails and permitting them fly. I took a collection of shots and she by no means seen me. She had trouble keeping her balance in the robust wind as evidenced by the extension of her proper wing. Just about every spring the male Crimson-winged Blackbirds arrive 1st on my property with the girls demonstrating up a pair of weeks later on. This female had just returned to the pond and was wanting for the very best of very last year’s cattails to develop her nest. These birds are usually welcome and particular guests to my property.
American Kestrel by Robert Palmer
Locale: Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Place, Farmington, UT
At the rear of the Shot: I made use of to commit a whole lot of time photographing wildlife, particularly birds at the waterfowl management area on cold wintertime mornings. This day was no exception: cloudy, 20 levels, no wind. There are commonly a couple of American Kestrels hanging about, and this morning there was one kestrel that was preening in a tree with frost on the branches about 20 feet away. She was very focused on cleaning her feathers and not shelling out awareness to me. I was in my car or truck alongside the highway and took a quantity of pics of her preening. I imagine this photo illustrates the beauty that can be discovered in a bird performing a very simple, each and every day task.
Golden-crowned Kinglet by Sharon Olson
Location: Clackamas County, OR
Behind the Shot: While out strolling one day in a wooded area, camera in hand, I read a superior-pitched refrain significant up in the towering conifer trees. On getting a closer appear, I noticed a flurry of exercise with a flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets swiftly going among the lush green branches. My heart skipped a beat noticing what a delightful challenge it would be to seize these small, nimble birds so superior up in the treetops. I am in consistent admiration observing birds and, so generally, the dedication of females who tirelessly commit themselves to deciding on mates, building nests, and defending their young and territories—often successfully and on their personal. Photographing birds and character is awe-inspiring for me it transports me into the second, making it possible for me to be consumed by the marvel unfolding appropriate in entrance of me.
