American photographer Karine Aigner was voted wildlife photographer of the year this year for her remarkable symbol of a cactus beeball buzzing in the hot sand of a Texas ranch.
In their bee close-up, all but one are male and pretend to mate with the female in the center.
Like peak bees, they are threatened by habitat loss, insecticides and climate change, as well as agricultural practices that disrupt their nesting sites.
The hum of Karine Aigner. Winner, Behavior: Invertebrates
Jury chair and editor Rosamund ‘Roz’ Kidman Cox OBE says: ‘Wings roaring, men come home in the bee ball whizzing rolling straight into the picture.
The sensation of movement and intensity is shown with increase in the point of the bee and transforms what are small cactus bees into competition for a single female.
Location: South Texas, United States
Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022
The good looks of Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn’s beards. Winner, 15-17 years old
When a Bryde’s whale emerged near the boat, Katanyou intrigued through the contrasting colors and textures of its dark skin, pink gum and the mass of brush-like beards hanging from its upper jaw.
Like other baleen whales, Bryde uses a strategy known as slit feeding to capture gigantic amounts of small schools of fish and uses baleen plates to remove small prey from the ocean.
A passionate naturalist and photographer since the age of 12, this dynamic composition is Katanyou’s first prize in the annual competition.
Location: High Gulf of Thailand, Phetchaburi, Thailand.
Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Combat positions through Ekaterina Bee. Winner, 10 years and under
Near the end of a spring trip with her family, Ekaterina saw the fight.
The two ibex clashed their horns and continued to exchange blows on their hind legs like boxers in a ring.
At the beginning of the XIX century, after centuries of hunting, less than a hundred alpine mountain goats survived in the mountains of the French-Italian border.
Successful conservation measures mean there are more than 50,000.
Location: Pian della Mussa, Piedmont, Italy
From the fog through Ismael Domínguez Gutierrez. Winner, 11-14 years
When Ismael arrived at the wetland, he was disappointed because he couldn’t see beyond a few meters and certainly had no hope of seeing the grebes he was looking to photograph. But when the fog began to dissipate, it revealed the opportunity of this eye-catching composition.
Ospreys are winter for the province of Andalusia.
Here, the numerous reservoirs supply fish-eating birds of prey with free, shallow water, clearer than many rivers and lakes.
Location: Los Hurones Reservoir, Cadiz, Spain
Wildlife Photographer of the Year
The thinness of glasses through Daniel Mideros. Winner, Animals in their environment
Daniel installed camera traps along a corridor that is used to succeed on high-altitude plateaus.
He located the cameras to show the endangered herbarium landscape with the bear framed in the center of the image.
These bears, discovered from western Venezuela to Bolivia, have suffered declines due to fragmentation and habitat loss.
Around the world, as humans continue to build and farm, the area for wildlife is becoming limited.
Location: Peñas Blancas, Quito, Ecuador
Perfect Puff through Jose Juan Hernandez Martinez. Winner, Animal Portraits
Joseph came to the procession of the hubara in the night. In the moonlight, he dug a low skin.
From this point of view, the bird’s bloated profile peeked out as it rested from its frantic performance.
A male Canarian hubara returns every year to his courtship place to perform impressive exhibitions.
Lifting the feathers from the front of his neck and throwing his head back, he will run forward before backing up, resting for a few seconds before returning.
Location: La Oliva, Fuerteventura, Spain
The bird that listens through Nick Kanakis. Winner, Behavior: Birds
Nick, the young gray-breasted wrin, feeding.
Knowing that he would disappear into the forest if he approached, he discovered a transparent domain of fallen leaves and waited.
Sure enough, the little bird jumped inside the frame, urging its ear opposite the ground to pay attention to the small insects.
This prey detection strategy is used through birds, adding the blackbird.
Grey-breasted wrens are ground-dwelling birds, heard but not seen.
They emit strong, melodious songs and hoarse calls while hiding in the undergrowth.
Location: Tatama National Park, Risaralda, Colombia.
The Great Cliff Chase through Anand Nambiar. Winner, Behavior: Mammals
From the other side of the ravine, Anand watched the snow leopard maneuver upstream from the herd.
He adapted perfectly to the environment, unlike Anand, who followed physical nutrition to prepare for maximum height and bloodless temperatures.
Snow leopards in some of the highest habitats in the world. They are now classified as vulnerable.
The threats come with climate change, mining and hunting of snow leopards and their prey.
Location: Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary, Himachal Pradesh, India
The bat thief through Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar. Winner, Behavior: amphibians and reptiles
Using a red light that bats and snakes are less sensitive to, Fernando kept an eye out for this Yucatan rat snake coming out of a crevasse.
He had a few seconds to shoot when the evaluator snake retreated to its crevice with its bat prey.
Every evening at sunset in the Hanging Snake Cave, thousands of bats come out to feed at night.
It is also when hungry dark snakes emerge, swinging from the ceiling to catch their prey in the air.
Location: Kantemo, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Celestial flamingos through Junji Takasago. Winner, Natural Art
Junji slipped into the organization of Chilean flamingos that were smoothing. Framing his choreography in the reflected clouds, he fought against his altitude to capture this dreamlike scene.
High in the Andes, the Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt mine in the world. It is also one of the largest lithium mines in Bolivia, threatening the long career of those flamingos.
Lithium is used in phone and laptop batteries. Together, we can reduce demand by recycling old electronic devices.
Location: Salar de Uyuni, Daniel Campos Province, Bolivia
New life for the Tohorā through Richard Robinson. Winner, Oceans: Overview
Embarrassed by poor visibility, Richard used a polecam to photograph the whales gradually moving towards his boat. Taking his camera to the limit in the dark water, he was relieved to locate the incredibly sharp symbol and the moment of copulation crystallized in time.
When in a mating position, the female southern right whale rolls on its back, forcing the male to achieve his penis through the female’s body. Known to Maori as tohorā, New Zealand’s population was on the brink of extinction in the nineteenth century, so a new calf gives new hope.
Shot New Zealand Department of Conservation Permit #84845-MAR
Location: Deas Head, Auckland Islands, New Zealand
The magical morels of Agorastos Papatsanis. Winner, Plants and Fungi
Enjoying the interaction between mushrooms and fairy tales, Agorastos sought to create a magical scene.
He waited for the sun to clear through the trees and remove the darkness from the water in the background, then used a wide-angle lens and flashes to highlight the labyrinthine shapes of the morels.
Morels are gastronomic treasures in many parts of the world because they are difficult to grow, but in some forests they bloom naturally.
Location: Mount Olympus, Pieria, Greece
Shooting Star through Tony Wu. Winner, submarine
Like the surrounding water with sperm and starfish brood eggs, Tony faced several challenges.
Trapped in a small enclosed bay with a macro lens for photographing small subjects, he stepped back to squeeze the rippling starfish into his frame of vision, in this galaxy-like scene.
The “dancing” posture of emerging and swinging starfish can release eggs and sperm, or it can drag eggs and sperm into streams where they are fertilized in combination in the water.
Location: Kinko Bay, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
The house of bears through Dmitry Kokh. Winner, Urban Wildlife
On a yacht, sheltered from a storm, Dmitry saw polar bears wandering among the buildings of the deserted colony for a long time.
While exploring each and every window and door, Dmitry used a low-noise drone to snap a photo that evokes a post-apocalyptic future.
In the Chukchi Sea region, lone bears tend to migrate farther north in summer, following the retreat of the sea ice they rely on to hunt seals, their main food.
If the loose sea ice remains near the coast of this rocky island, the bears investigate.
Location: Kolyuchin Island, Chukotka, Russia
Dying Lake by Daniel Núñez. Winner, Wetlands – Overview
Daniel took this photo to raise awareness about the effect of pollution on Lake Amatitlán, which absorbs around 75,000 tons of waste from Guatemala City each year. “It was a sunny day with the best conditions,” he says, “but it’s an unhappy and shocking time. “
Cyanobacteria thrive in the presence of wastewater and agricultural fertilizers that form algal blooms.
Ongoing efforts to repair the Amatitlán wetland have been hampered by a lack of investment and allegations of political corruption.
Location: Lake Amatitlán, Villa Canales, Guatemala
Ndakasi was Brent Stirton. Winner, Photojournalism
Brent photographed Ndakasi’s rescue at the age of two months after his troop was brutally murdered by a tough coal mafia as a risk to park rangers.
Here she commemorated her death while she was in the arms of her 13-year-old savior and caregiver, Ranger Andre Bauma.
As a result of tireless conservation efforts aimed at the individual protection of gorillas, the number of mountain gorillas has quadrupled to more than 1000 in the last 40 years.
Location: Senkwekwe Centre, Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo.
‘The Cuban Connection’ through Karine Aigner. Winner, Photojournalist History Award
A Cuban camachuelo is placed along a road to get you used to the hustle and bustle of street life and is therefore less likely to be distracted by a competition.
These birds are highly prized for their soft voice and fighting spirit.
Portfolio history
For many years, some Cubans have captured and kept songbirds and held birdsinging contests. Throughout a turbulent era of economic sanctions and political turmoil, those lovely little birds provided companionship, entertainment, and a friendly festival within the community.
Today, with normalcy and emigration between Cuba and North America, songbird pageant culture has crossed an ocean. As songbird populations plummet, U. S. law enforcement is cracking down on the capture, industry and festival of those birds.
Location: United States and Cuba
A Bird Theatre’ through Mateusz Piesiak. Winner, Rising Star Portfolio Award
Remotely tapping his camera on the dusty canebrake, Mateusz took the opportunity to capture the moment a passing peregrine falcon flew over some of the variable sandpiper.
Portfolio history
Winner of the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year award at the age of 14, Mateusz explored his locality during the Covid lockdown. “Even a small pond or park in the center of town turned out to be a really smart position to photograph wildlife. “
Throughout this portfolio, Mateusz focuses on local birds, researching and preparing photographs that were in their brains “for days, months or even years” before despite everything managing to make them.
Location: Poland
‘Under the ice of Antarctica’ by Laurent Ballesta. Winner, Portfolio Award
Living towers of marine invertebrates mark the seafloor off Adélie Land, 32 meters (105 feet) from East Antarctica’s ice. Here, in the center, a tree-shaped sponge is covered with life, from giant ribbonworms to starfish.
Portfolio history
Laurent, a biologist and underwater photographer, has led a number of major expeditions, all related to clinical mysteries and diving challenges, and all in unprecedented images. He has won several Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards, in addition to the Grand Prize of the Title in 2021.
Their expedition to Antarctica, to explore its vast underwater biodiversity, took two years of planning, a team of divers and a specially developed kit. Its 32 dives in waters with temperatures as low as -1. 7°C (29°F) included and the longest dive ever undertaken in Antarctica.
Location: Adélie Land, Antarctica
All photographs and content in The Wildlife Photographer of the Year are courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced through the Natural History Museum in London.
Photographs curated by Rajesh Karkera/Rediff. com