Dramatic gannet dive wins Bird Photographer of the Year competition

The photo was taken off Shetland, UK, as the bird hunted for fish to feed its offspring. When gannets spot fish, they turn to fly into the wind, stretch out their wings as brakes, precisely adjust their position and then dive-bomb into the water with wings tucked at speeds of up to 86 kilometres per hour. They have evolved to handle this dramatic moment, with muscles that lock their vertebrae into position, air sacs in the face and chest to protect from impact, and nostrils that prevent jets of water entering.

In flight, hunting mode takes over, and piercing yellow eyes, fringed with blue circles, scour the sea for prey.” Spiers had been diving in the chilly, 10°C (50°F) waters of Shetland when he realised the sun was visible from his position under the sea. I envisioned the shot of the gannet diving straight through the middle of it, and dedicated my entire dive to capturing that single frame,” he says. After a long wait, a gannet finally dived through in the perfect spot and I met the bird as it careened under the sea.

The moment was over in a split second.” A bronze award in the prize’s portrait category was given to David Stowe, who captured this western parotia (Parotia sefilata), below, dancing in the dark rainforest of West Papua, Indonesia, in a dazzling attempt to attract a female. Donald Chin photographed this protective tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides), shown below, near Perth in Australia. As rain falls in the forest, this fledgling seems to raise a wing to cover its siblings.

Chin won a gold award in the “bird behaviour” category of the prize. The below image by Alex Pansier features hundreds, if not thousands, of guillemots (Uria aalge) in flight over Hornøya, Norway. The repeating shapes have an Escher-like quality.

Pansier took a silver award in the “birds in flight” category of the prize. Luca Eberle from Italy photographed the – unfortunately killed, stuffed and discarded – Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) shown below in Malta. Authorities inspect taxidermy samples to catch illegal hunting of protected species like this one, causing some collectors to dispose of older specimens.

Here, a BirdLife Malta officer is shown finding the stuffed vulture, which had been left by the roadside. Eberle won a bronze award in the “conservation, single image” category for this shot. Another underwater shot, from Romain Barats, features gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) feeding in Charcot Bay, Antarctica, below.