Bird Madness: Matchup #8

[Click the images to see larger versions, as well as other images from the gallery “Home on the Range.”]

It’s our final first-round matchup! With a quick click, you decide which of these two terrific shots makes it to the next level, what we’re calling the Egret Eight. (In case you can’t see the bird in the bottom one, it’s perched about a third of the way up from the bottom, slightly to the left.) Egrets in the trees took round 7 without even breaking a sweat. (Apparently the sports metaphors are getting to us.)

As always, we’re so glad so many of you have cast your votes thus far. Don’t stop now!

For those of you just joining our game, each round we’ve posted two entries from this year’s Audubon Magazine Photo Awards, in anticipation of announcing our official winners—it’s coming soon!—selected by our design director, Kevin Fisher, our photo editor, Lila Garnett, and publisher and editor-in-chief of Nature’s Best Photography magazine, Steve Freligh.

Nearly 1,200 of you have chosen our seven winners so far. The ultimate victor of Bird Madness will appear on our website, along with a story about how he or she captured the shot. Our Jan-Feb 2012 issue will feature the awards’ official winners.

Vote here! Voting for this matchup will close on Sunday, Dec. 18. Starting next week, winners will go up against each other, in four rounds of the Egret Eight.

                              Previous winners

Round 1 (full gallery)

Round 2 (full gallery)

Round 3 (full gallery)

Round 4 (full gallery)

Round 5 (full gallery)

Round 6 (full gallery)

Round 7 (full gallery)