Audubon Photography Awards

The 2023 Audubon Photography Awards: The Top 100

Revel in the staggering beauty and surprising behaviors featured in this gallery of our favorite images. Also check out the story behind each shot.
Words by The Editors
Audubon Magazine
Published June 28, 2023

Another year, another fantastic Audubon Photography Awards. For the 14 installment of our annual competition, we had more than 2,200 individuals from across the United States and Canada submit almost 9,000 photographs and videos. Then the hard part began: After reviewing every anonymous image and video file, three panels of expert judges selected just 13 winners and honorable mentions. Be sure to check them out if you haven't already. 

But as always, with so many amazing submissions, we couldn't stop there. So here are 100 more of our favorite photos for your enjoyment. Shared in no particular order, these shots show birds from around the world in all of their breathtaking variety and wonder. The images also illustrate the many different techniques and approaches used by wildlife photographers, which you can read about in the detailed “behind the shot” stories for each photograph.

After perusing this gallery, you might feel inspired to pick up a camera and try your own hand at avian photography. If so, our photography section is a good place to get started. There you'll find articles covering tips and how-to's, Audubon's ethical guidelines for wildlife photography, and gear recommendations. And if you end up capturing one or more images you're especially pleased with, consider entering next year's awards! 

1. Tree Swallow by Nicholas Stroh

A Tree Swallow with wings spread wide flies against a blurred orange background, the tips of its flight feathers aglow, matching the color behind it. The birds blue and white head and back stand out against the rest of the image.

2. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck by Joshua Pelta-Heller

Seven Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks stand on a boardwalk’s wooden railing. Three of the rust-brown ducks, with black undersides, and pink bills, legs, and feet, face one direction, while three more face the opposite way against a blurred black background.

3. Elegant Tern by Ashrith Kandula

Four black-crested Elegant Terns fill the frame with a gray background. One flies from above while two others below face each other in profile, one with a raised head and crest offers an eel-like fish in its uplifted bill.

4. White-tailed Ptarmigan by Peter Ismert

A White-tailed Ptarmigan in its white plumage preens, a single feather in its mouth with its eyes closed. Its head is curved back against its body, the feather color matching the snowy ground while standing out against a gray background.

5. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher by Lorraine Snipper

A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher leans forward to catch a katydid, its wings above its body, bill open, and long tail feathers spread behind it. The bird’s underwings and flanks of salmon sharply contrast with the bright blue sky.

6. Little Blue Heron by Dorian Anderson

A Little Blue Heron stands in water up to its upper legs, its face in the water and a large splash above its head. The bird stands in profile in the flat water, in front of a pink and buff blurred background.

7. American Avocet, Dunlin, Ruddy Turnstone, and Semipalmated Sandpiper by Tim Timmis

An avocet standing in profile, its head down as if in a curtsey, looks from a brown raft of seaweed into the gray ocean. All around the avocet are other shorebirds at various stages of flying, taking off, and standing.

8. Eastern Kingbird by Justin Griggs

A white-bellied, gray-winged Eastern Kingbird flies toward the camera with wings outstretched and tail spread open Its dark coloring stands out against a background of blurred yellow-green leaves.

9. Anna's Hummingbird by Kevin Lohman

An Anna’s Hummingbird hovers below a branch covered with lichen. She is looking up with her wings behind her, and the tip of her bill open to pick lichen off the branch against a blurred green and yellow background.

10. Wood Duck by Matthew Hall

A Wood Duck sits in profile on a branch of a crabapple tree, boughs heavy with fruit and surrounding all but one side of the frame. The brown, white, and buff-colored duck stands out against a blurred red background.

11. Western Screech-Owl by Maximilian Rabbitt-Tomita

Against a blurry, bluish background, a Western Screech-Owl sits on a large branch, with its body turned to the right but its head turned back to the left. The brown bird has dilated pupils and holds what is left of a green caterpillar in its bill.

12. Roseate Spoonbill by Kelley Luikey

: Two Roseate Spoonbills feed right in the center of the frame, their pink wings mirroring that of blurred soft pink sky above, which is reflected in shallow water.

13. American Dipper by Hector Cordero

A gray American Dipper sits in rushing water, its body and head in profile. A freshly caught insect appears to float between its open bill, the bird’s tongue sticking out.

14. Limpkin by Cynthia Barbanera-Wedel

A brown Limpkin with white spots and a long light pinkish bill stands in a lake, one leg raised, and three toes outstretched. It looks to the side with its wing feathers fanned behind it, the gray background and bird’s body reflected in the rippling water

15. Western Gull by Faith Barton

A gray Western Gull chick with black speckles on its head sits in the forefront of the image, the bird's parent, white with a bright yellow bill and red dot near the tip, blurred in the background.

16. Purple Sandpiper by Kieran Barlow

A sandpiper sits on a rock in the middle of the frame seeming to look right at the lens. The background is a blurred deep blue contrasting the gray and white of the bird’s feathers.

17. Redwing by Gail Bisson

A Redwing sits on a purple lupine, its body in profile. The buds in the forefront are in color while the ones in the back are blurred, providing a light background that offsets the bird’s rusty orange breast and brown wing.

18. Northern Cardinal by Baoting Chen

While snow falls a single red Northern Cardinal perches on a branch in the lower right-hand corner of the frame, the bird’s back to the camera, its head in profile as it turns to the left. The branch bears bright red berries that matches the bird.

19. Red-naped Sapsucker by Karen Bilgrai Cohen

A red-crowned Red-naped Sapsucker peeks its head from a hole in a birch tree on the left side of the image, a fecal sac covered in wood chips in its bill. Behind the white-barked tree and bird’s head is a blurred green background.

20. Burrowing Owl by Karen Bilgrai Cohen

: Two Burrowing Owls chicks stand on dirt mount against a blurred green field. One bird faces the camera directly, a yellow mustard stalk in its bill, the other looking at the camera over its shoulder.

21. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck by Dawn Wilson

A single Black-bellied Whistling-Duck standing in a flock stretches its head higher than the other birds. The bird’s bill is open, expelling a puff of steam from the bird’s breath in front of a brown background that reflects the birds’ coloring.

22. Atlantic Puffin by Kelley Luikey

A single Atlantic Puffin stands in profile on a rock cliff, the full moon framing its face and highlighting the yellow and orange coloring of the bird’s bill.

23. American Flamingo by Baoting Chen

Two pairs of reddish pink flamingos face each other while standing in profile in a lagoon. Two have their necks outstretched, the other two’s necks are slightly curved against a blurry background of blue sky, greenery, and a sandy beach.

24. Ring-necked Pheasant by Adam Olsen

A male pheasant in flight, its wings outstretched, fills the frame, its back to the lens. Light filters through the ends of its wing feathers, the tips illuminated against a background of beige wetlands brush.

25. Common Raven by Shane Kalyn

Two Common Raven stand in profile looking at each other. The one on the left rests its bill on the other’s bill, its left eyelid closed, the blue membrane looking like a jewel.

26. Carolina Wren by Hal Moran

A pair of Carolina wrens stand atop a rock perch that contains a spot of moss and the remnant strands of very fine white plant down. The wrens face each other, one slightly higher, against a blurred gray background.

27. Gyrfalcon by Kate Persons

Two fledgling Gyrfalcons stand in profile, one slightly behind the other, mouths open. The one in front has it wings outstretched, both backlit and outlined in gold, a tree branch protruding from the lower right side of the frame.

28. Brown Skua by Bill Klipp

Three skuas stand around a bloody ribcage of an elephant seal carcass in the foreground, another skua flying in from the back. One bird stands behind the body, its wings outstretched against a backdrop of rugged steep snow-covered mountains and glaciers.

29. Wood Duck by Scott Suriano

A Wood Duck swims directly toward the camera with its chestnut-colored chest, tan body, green head, purplish cheeks, and red, yellow, and white beak, all complementing its striking red eyes. Vegetation that lines the shore frames the duck.

30. Allen’s Hummingbird by Faith Barton

A male Allen's Hummingbird perches on a black chain-link fence. The bird's sharply focused rusty-orange body, olive-green crown, and iridescent orange-red throat feathers are similar to the rich pink and green hues from an out of focus bougainvillea.

31. Scarlet Macaw by Rex Andersen

A Scarlet Macaw sitting on a rock looks up, its long tail sticking out behind it like an arrow. The macaw’s white face and beak and bright red and blue feathers are a stark contrast to the brown mud and rock around him.

32. Long-billed Curlew by Elizabeth Yicheng Shen

A Long-billed Curlew with wings stretched behind it flies in profile, ready to land in a lagoon. It appears to be running on the water, its buff-colored body reflecting the blurred background behind it.

33. Eastern Towhee by Ronan Nicholson

The silhouette of a singing bird shows through shadowy branches that slant upward to the right. The bird is perched on the left most of the branches against orange hues, with dark patches on the edges of the frame.

34. Rufous Hummingbird by Tim Nicol

A Rufous Hummingbird sits in profile on one end of a y-shaped branch, a tuft of moss in the middle against a brown background, a sharp contrast to his orange coloring.

35. Common Gallinule by Joshua Galicki

A Common Gallinule walks across a road, its body in profile and the bright yellow lines on the asphalt beneath it. The bird’s yellow legs match the painted lines, its dark body contrasting with the blurred light background.

36. Snowy Egret by Nicholas Stroh

A Snowy Egret stands in profile in shallow water, its head submerged and a splash of water surrounding it. The still water reflects the lemon-yellow sky, highlighting the bird’s white plumage.

37. Golden-bellied Flycatcher by Linda Scher

38. Green Heron by Bryan Putnam

A down-tufted juvenile Green Heron perched on a branch stares directly at the lens, its yellow beak pointing straight and its brown and white striped feathers contrasting with the green foliage around it. A single follicle on the head sticks straight up.

39. Common Tern and Laughing Gull by Scott Dere

A Laughing Gull in the center of the frame looks ready to steal food being passed from another gull near the ground and one in the air, their wings outstretched, as another gull behind them calls, bill open, against a blurred beach backdrop.

40. Semipalmated Sandpiper by Hector Cordero

A Semipalmated Sandpiper in the middle-left of the image stands on a beach, the sand in front blurred and an out-of-focus Royal Tern in the background appearing to dwarf the sandpiper.

41. Sandhill Crane by Adrienne Elliot

Two Sandhill Cranes stand with their heads down and backs to the camera, their wings outstretched. One balances perfectly on the other’s shoulders in front of a blue and tan background.

42. Allen’s Hummingbird by Faith Barton

An Allen's Hummingbird balances on a small branch surrounded by small white flowers and light pink buds. Facing the camera the bird shows off its rusty orange body and orange-red throat while its wings are fully outstretched against a green background.

43. Cedar Waxwing by Kevin Lohman

A Cedar Waxwing perches on a leafy cotoneaster branch, clumps of bright red berries hanging below. One red berry is in midair between the bird’s bill, the bird leaning forward to catch it.

44. Rufous Hummingbird by Robert Dodson

A Rufous Hummingbird flies head-on toward the camera, its bill pointing down and wings in mid-flight. The bird’s bright colors and pink gorget are accentuated by a light blue background and purple flowers in lower part of the frame.

45. Osprey by Douglas DeFelice

A brown and white Osprey flies in the air, water droplets around it from shaking in the air, a blurred blue sky and green foliage in the background.

46. Mallard by Steve Jessmore

A thin shaft of sunlight slices down a male Mallard’s emerald head, briefly highlighting his eye. The duck swims in profile in brown and blue water.

47. Chinstrap Penguin by Deena Sveinsson

A Chinstrap Penguin peers at the frame, its face and breast visible above a snowbank. The black of its head, wing tips, and line on its chin stand out against the white background and bottom of the frame.

48. Brown Pelican by Tim Timmis

The dark silhouettes of three pelicans with their wings extended glide just above glassy ocean water that reflects the soft orange morning sky.

49. Elegant Trogon by Joshua Pelta-Heller

An Elegant Trogon with a yellow beak, gray wings, and a bright red belly sits on the end of a brown branch on the left side of the image. Its body faces right, but its head faces left, a sharp contrast to the pale yellow-green, blurred backgroumd.

50. Bald Eagle by Bonnie Block

A white-bellied, gray-winged Eastern Kingbird flies toward the camera with wings outstretched and tail spread open. Its dark coloring stands out against a background of blurred yellow-green leaves.

51. Willet by Elizabeth Yicheng Shen

A Willet faces slightly away from the camera, its wings in mid-flap, the rusty colored tips of its flight feathers spread in front of its face against a gray background.

52. Sandhill Crane by Savannah Rose

Two Sandhill Cranes, their backs to the camera, appear entwined, their red-crowned heads facing opposite directions as if in a mirror. They stand in a field of gray and brown short and dead grass.

53. Pied-billed Grebe by Elizabeth Yicheng Shen

A mama Pied-billed Grebe is standing up and shaking her feathers in a pond, her three red-billed chicks in front of her, their heads barely visible above the water’s surface as the mom arches forward.

54. Green Heron by James Fatemi

A Green Heron in profile appears to walk on the water’s surface. Its yellow feet sharply contrast with its blue and purple body, the entirety of which is reflected in the water that takes up the lower half of the image.

55. Townsend’s Warbler by Jonah Freeman

A yellow- and black-headed Townsend’s Warbler looks down, its face in profile, from a pine tree. Some needles cover its back, which makes it look like the warbler is hiding behind them. Water droplets hang from branches against a black background.

56. Atlantic Puffin by Shane Kalyn

An Atlantic Puffin look at the camera, its head slightly to the side, a white feather in its red-edged bill. A pink offsets blurred greenery behind the bird.

57. Great Blue Heron by Dale Robert

Facing left a Great Blue Heron’s head and shoulders fill the frame, the heron’s neck in an S shape and its bill open. Between the heron’s top and bottom bill is a minnow suspended in a perfect profile and facing in the same direction as the heron.

58. Orchard Oriole by Michael Fogleman

A male Orchard Orioles flutters its wings as it sits atop a female perched in an evergreen tree, the two copulating. The female is holding nesting material in her bill, her head turned upward, exposing her bright yellow neck and breast.

59. Savannah Sparrow by Dene Miles

A Savannah Sparrow sits on a purple tulip in a field full of the flowers at eye level. The foreground and background flowers are blurred, helping to make the striped bird stand out in the frame.

60. American Woodcock by Hector Cordero

An in-focus American Woodcock sits in ground foliage, its long bill and head in profile while blurred round lights shine in the distance. The bird’s feathers blend in with the brown and green leaves and the brown out-of-focus background.

61. Wood Duck by Scott Suriano

A Wood Duck drake with a green face, red eye and bill, and chestnut-colored body swims in profile in a pond, water cascading off its back and bill. The water reflects the duck and the blue sky above.

62. Blackpoll Warbler by Greg Albrechtsen

A female Blackpoll Warbler leaps in the middle of the image, her wings stretched behind her, head up, and feet straight out. The bird, the leaves of the tree, and the background are all hues of yellow and green. The bird and leaves are in focus.

63. Red-shouldered Hawk by Cynthia Barbanera-Wedel

A Red-shouldered Hawk stands in profile as it perches on a branch covered in Spanish moss. Its orange breast matches the blurred oranges in the background, the black and white of its wings in sharp contrast to the rest of the image.

64. Bald Eagle and Great Blue Heron by Michael Whittaker

A Bald Eagle flies away from a large nest made of sticks, its wings outstretched. Two fuzzy Great Blue Heron chicks dangle from its talons, the nest and eagle against an out-of-focus green background.

65. Eastern Screech-Owl by Nick Teague

Two Eastern Screech-Owls, one red and one grey, sit in the end of a hollow branch, their eyes squeezed shut and their bodies tightly packed into the opening, appearing as if they are part of the branch itself.

66. Southern Ground-Hornbill by Lisa Sproat

A large-beaked Southern Ground-Hornbill’s head and neck appear in profile, a bright red ring around its eye and along the upper part of its neck in sharp focus against its black plumage and the blurred buff-colored background.

67. King Eider by Mike Timmons

A King Eider with a bright red and orange bill, green cheek, and white head swims in the water, its head and breast in profile. A clear piece of ice floats in the water appearing to engage the duck.

68. Burrowing Owl by Cynthia Barbanera-Wedel

A juvenile Burrowing Owl stands on a mound of sand, its head tilted to the left of the frame. Blurred green grass is in the foreground while blue sky in the background of the image helps to make the grass and buff color of the bird stand out.

69. Blue Jay by Morgan Quimby

A Blue Jay’s bright blue tail and outstretched wings fill most of the frame, the inner gray wingtips slightly blurred in the background against snow, some flakes kicked up from the jay’s movement.

70. Bald Eagle by Eric Ashman

A Bald Eagle, head down and wings open above it, stands on a light post covered in frost. Another standing on the streetlight looks into the sky, its bill open, while a third in the lower left-hand corner flies off, its wings spread wide.

71. Marabou Stork by Piotr Naskrecki

Marabou Storks stand in a shallow pond, gray catfish lying in the mud in front of them. In the forefront of the image is one stork, its bill open, trying to get ahold of a fish while other birds prod their own catfish or stand in the background.

72. Black-necked Stilt by Sankha Hota

A Black-necked Stilt stands in profile on dark mud, greenery to the left. Two chicks face their parent, with the legs of two others the only indication that other chicks are huddling under it parents’ wings.

73. Sanderling by Kenneth Haas

A Sanderling stands on the beach, its neck bent 180 degrees toward its back, beak open, trying to preen its longest wing feather. The water just covers its feet with out of focus waves in the background.

74. Common Raven by Shane Kalyn

A Common Raven stands in profile, part of its body outside of the frame, its large bill open wide, revealing the black inside of the bird’s mouth. Out-of-focus background orbs of lights add an orange color that contrasts the darker colors of the image.

75. Least Sandpiper by Joshua Galicki

A Least Sandpiper’s profile is outlined in white in the upper right part of the frame as it stands in water reflecting its silhouette. Light in the lower part of the image shown as slightly out of focus circular white orbs.

76. Elegant Tern by Jack Zhang

An Elegant Tern has its feet in the water, its wings outstretched, while four others, above it in various positions, all with their own wings spread, scan the water below for prey.

77. Sandhill Crane by Benjamin Olson

A large flock of Sandhill Cranes stand on and fly above a sandbar on the Platte River. Their silhouettes are outlined by a golden glow from the setting sun that reflects off the water and through the blurred trees behind them.

78. Anhinga by Rex Matthews

The head and chest of an Anhinga fill the frame, its neck curved into a question mark, its yellow bill preening. A blurred green background sets off the bird’s black feathers.

79. ʻIʻiwi by Patrick Wardle

A scarlet-headed and breasted ‘Iʻiwi in profile sits in the middle of the frame, its curved bill open and its tongue visible. The bird’s bright coloring stands out against a dark blurred background and its black perch.

80. Black-browed Albatross by Vicki Jauron

A Black-browed Albatross, bill pointed down, leans its head toward her young chick in the left of the frame. The all-white white chick looks up at its parent. The late afternoon light gives the birds a spotlight effect against a black background.

81. Short-eared Owl by Glenn Nelson

A Short-Eared Owl with its wings spread and aimed forward flies toward the camera, its wing and tail feathers are illuminated. The illuminated feathers stand out against a dark background provided by a tree-filled hillside.

82. Peregrine Falcon by Trish Oster

Two fledgling Peregrine Falcon siblings perch on a bare branch. The young bird on the left has its wings outstretched and is looking to the left. The juvenile birds have brown vertical streaks on their breasts. The blurred background looks like rocks.

83. Bald Eagle by Elizabeth Navarro

The silhouette of a Bald Eagle soars alone against a vast gray sky. Forms of mountains stand out on the right side of the frame, dark shapes in fog, contrasting the sharp definition of the eagle.

84. Elegant Tern by Kevin Lohman

Hundreds of a black-crested, and orange-billed Elegant Terns in various stages of taking off stand on a sandbar, their gray wings tipped in black. Below them, still water reflects the flock.

85. Sandhill Crane by Bonnie Block

Five Sandhill Cranes fly, each at a different height, the tips of their wings blurred and orange and their legs behind and below them. The birds fly against a blurred blue, orange, and white background.

86. Great Blue Heron by Christopher Baker

A Great Blue Heron proudly poses in profile with a large redear sunfish speared on the end of its orange bill, a color also seen on translucent fins of the fish that appears in contrast to the black background.

87. American Dipper by Liron Gertsman

A gray American Dipper flies above water, its wings down and feet up in a pike position. The bird holds caddisfly larvae in its bill and ice and snow is piled on the shore in the background.

88. Canada Goose by Mark Bernards

The frame is full of Canada Goose feathers close up and covered in droplets of condensation. The brown and black feathers appear in a wave-like pattern, their white tips spreading out along the length of the image.

89. Common Raven by Bec Hallstedt

A Common Raven faces directly at the camera, its head tilted slightly to the left. Snow blows in the background and sits on the raven's dark bill and face, highlighting the feathers across its neck that stand out against a blurred green background.

90. Bald Eagle by William Pully

A Bald Eagle upside down in the air holds a fish in its talons, its open bill seemingly reaching for its prey. Its tail is fanned out, water below.

91. Bateleur by Piotr Naskrecki

A blue-faced Bateleur stands in front of a dead waterbuck, the bird’s foot on the animal’s face. The raptor looks to the side, its buff colors matching those of the waterbuck in lying in the mud.

92. Brown Pelican by Kevin Shi

93. Ruddy-headed Goose by Vicki Jauron

A Ruddy-headed Goose looks toward the camera as it bathes, one eye facing the camera. The striped chest feathers and puffed wings look like cotton balls against a backdrop of blue water.

94. Great Blue Heron and Sanderling by Chuck Wood

A Great Blue Heron looks to the left of the frame, its body in profile as it stands on the shore. A Sanderling a bit closer to the water faces the opposite direction near blurred waves, the dark sky in the distance.

95. Ring-billed Gull by John Theoharis

A single Ring-billed Gull in the middle of this black and white photograph flies in a stream of light, the sun glaring above and the bird’s long shadow below. Dark buildings line both sides of the frame.

96. Trumpeter Swan by Joe Rousseau

The profile of a Trumpeter Swan’s head fills the top of the frame, its white feathers sharply contrasting with a black background. Water dribbles from its bill, forming ripples on the surface of the pond.

97. Crested Auklet by Damon Brundage

A pair of Crested Auklets with black bodies and short, bright orange bills rest on a cliff ledge. They look to the right of the frame as they peer out at the Bering Sea, rainwater beading on their backs.

98. Sandhill Crane by Matthew Fisher

A flock of Sandhill Cranes stand in water, their silhouettes accentuated by golden fog lit by the sun. Trees on either side of the image frame the birds, the yellow sun visible through the fog against a bright blue background.

99. Tree Swallow by Jill Bauer

Three baby Tree Swallows peek out of the opening of a nest box, mouths agape. At the center of the image is a blue-backed Tree Swallow, wings a blur, in front of a bright green background.

100. Adelie Penguin by Laura Humes

Five Adelie Penguins at various stages of jumping from the water stand out in the middle of the image, their black and white bodies in contrast to the white and blue iceberg behind them and dark blue water below.